$100 in 1921 is worth $1,199 in 2009,
because prices increased 1098.5% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$1,199
in 2009
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1098.5%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,199
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,099
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 2009
214.537
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
$100 in 1921 → 2009
$1,199
$100 in 2009 → 1921
$8.34
What happened to prices between 1921 and 2009
Between 1921 and 2009, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 214.537.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1098.5%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2009: the 1921 dollar
lost 91.7% of its purchasing power over
these 88 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 2009 at the same ratio, 11.99: $1,000 becomes
$11,985, and $10,000 becomes $119,853.
Amount in 1921
Value in 2009
$1.00
$11.99
$5.00
$59.93
$10.00
$120
$20.00
$240
$50.00
$599
$100
$1,199
$500
$5,993
$1,000
$11,985
$5,000
$59,927
$10,000
$119,853
$100,000
$1,198,531
$1,000,000
$11,985,307
Inflation by spending category, 1921–2009
Between 1921 and 2009, food rose the most, up 1270.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 261.7%, against 1098.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 2009, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$1,199
Food
3.02%
$1,371
Apparel
1.47%
$362
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 2009
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 1921–2009 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
2000–2009
2.47%
24.6%
$1,199
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $181 by
1966, on its way to $1,199 in 2009; 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: 2009
In 2009, prices fell 0.4% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $1,199; the year's average CPI of 214.537 is the level
behind every 2009 figure on this page.
2009 is the rarest kind of year in the modern price data: one where the cost
of living went down. The CPI fell 0.4%, the first full-year deflation
since 1955, as the Great Recession hollowed out demand and oil unwound from
its $147 spike the summer before. Gasoline that had cost over $4 a gallon in
July 2008 averaged $2.35 in 2009, and that energy collapse dragged the
12-month inflation rate to −2.1% by July, the deepest reading since 1950.
Policymakers treated falling prices not as relief but as a warning: deflation
raises the real weight of debt precisely when households are drowning in it,
which is why the Federal Reserve pinned interest rates near zero, began buying
bonds by the hundreds of billions, and Washington passed a $787 billion
stimulus. The medicine took: prices stabilized within a year, and 2009 remains
the textbook case of why central banks fear deflation more than moderate
inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 2009: $100 is worth $1,199 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2009/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 2009. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2009/