$100 in 1921 is worth $1,514 in 2021,
because prices increased 1413.8% over that period, an average of
2.75% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$1,514
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1413.8%
Average inflation rate
2.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,514
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,414
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1921 → 2021
$1,514
$100 in 2021 → 1921
$6.61
What happened to prices between 1921 and 2021
Between 1921 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1413.8%, which works out to an average of
2.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2021: the 1921 dollar
lost 93.4% of its purchasing power over
these 100 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 2021 at the same ratio, 15.14: $1,000 becomes
$15,138, and $10,000 becomes $151,380.
Amount in 1921
Value in 2021
$1.00
$15.14
$5.00
$75.69
$10.00
$151
$20.00
$303
$50.00
$757
$100
$1,514
$500
$7,569
$1,000
$15,138
$5,000
$75,690
$10,000
$151,380
$100,000
$1,513,799
$1,000,000
$15,137,989
Inflation by spending category, 1921–2021
Between 1921 and 2021, food rose the most, up 1646.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 264.4%, against 1413.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.75%
$1,514
Food
2.90%
$1,747
Apparel
1.30%
$364
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 2021
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 1921–2021 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,446
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$1,514
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $226 by
1971, on its way to $1,514 in 2021; 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: 2021
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $1,514; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 2021: $100 is worth $1,514 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2021/