$100 in 1921 is worth $1,091 in 2005,
because prices increased 991.1% over that period, an average of
2.89% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$1,091
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
991.1%
Average inflation rate
2.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,091
Price difference ($100 base)
$991
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1921 → 2005
$1,091
$100 in 2005 → 1921
$9.17
What happened to prices between 1921 and 2005
Between 1921 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 991.1%, which works out to an average of
2.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2005: the 1921 dollar
lost 90.8% of its purchasing power over
these 84 years.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1921 amount converts to 2005 at the same ratio, 10.91: $1,000 becomes
$10,911, and $10,000 becomes $109,106.
Amount in 1921
Value in 2005
$1.00
$10.91
$5.00
$54.55
$10.00
$109
$20.00
$218
$50.00
$546
$100
$1,091
$500
$5,455
$1,000
$10,911
$5,000
$54,553
$10,000
$109,106
$100,000
$1,091,061
$1,000,000
$10,910,615
Inflation by spending category, 1921–2005
Between 1921 and 2005, food rose the most, up 1099.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 259.9%, against 991.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.89%
$1,091
Food
3.00%
$1,199
Apparel
1.54%
$360
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1921: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1921 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–2005 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1921, at end
1921–1930
-0.77%
-6.7%
$93.30
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$78.21
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$135
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$165
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$217
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$460
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$730
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$962
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$1,091
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $167 by
1961, on its way to $1,091 in 2005; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2005
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $1,091; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 2005: $100 is worth $1,091 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2005/