$100 in 1921 is worth $1,752 in 2024,
because prices increased 1652.5% over that period, an average of
2.82% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$1,752
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1652.5%
Average inflation rate
2.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,752
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,652
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1921 → 2024
$1,752
$100 in 2024 → 1921
$5.71
What happened to prices between 1921 and 2024
Between 1921 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1652.5%, which works out to an average of
2.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2024: the 1921 dollar
lost 94.3% of its purchasing power over
these 103 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 2024 at the same ratio, 17.52: $1,000 becomes
$17,525, and $10,000 becomes $175,245.
Amount in 1921
Value in 2024
$1.00
$17.52
$5.00
$87.62
$10.00
$175
$20.00
$350
$50.00
$876
$100
$1,752
$500
$8,762
$1,000
$17,525
$5,000
$87,623
$10,000
$175,245
$100,000
$1,752,453
$1,000,000
$17,524,525
Inflation by spending category, 1921–2024
Between 1921 and 2024, food rose the most, up 1977.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 296.0%, against 1652.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.82%
$1,752
Food
2.99%
$2,077
Apparel
1.35%
$396
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 2024
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 1921–2024 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
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$1,752
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $226 by
1971, on its way to $1,752 in 2024; 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $1,752; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 2024: $100 is worth $1,752 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2024/