$100 in 1921 is worth $1,257 in 2011,
because prices increased 1156.6% over that period, an average of
2.85% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$1,257
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1156.6%
Average inflation rate
2.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,257
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,157
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1921 → 2011
$1,257
$100 in 2011 → 1921
$7.96
What happened to prices between 1921 and 2011
Between 1921 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1156.6%, which works out to an average of
2.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2011: the 1921 dollar
lost 92.0% of its purchasing power over
these 90 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 2011 at the same ratio, 12.57: $1,000 becomes
$12,566, and $10,000 becomes $125,664.
Amount in 1921
Value in 2011
$1.00
$12.57
$5.00
$62.83
$10.00
$126
$20.00
$251
$50.00
$628
$100
$1,257
$500
$6,283
$1,000
$12,566
$5,000
$62,832
$10,000
$125,664
$100,000
$1,256,642
$1,000,000
$12,566,425
Inflation by spending category, 1921–2011
Between 1921 and 2011, food rose the most, up 1333.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 267.8%, against 1156.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.85%
$1,257
Food
3.00%
$1,433
Apparel
1.46%
$368
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 2011
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 1921–2011 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,218
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$1,257
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $181 by
1966, on its way to $1,257 in 2011; 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: 2011
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $1,257; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 2011: $100 is worth $1,257 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2011/