$100 in 1922 is worth $105 in 1926,
because prices increased 5.4% over that period, an average of
1.31% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$105
in 1926
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
5.4%
Average inflation rate
1.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$105
Price difference ($100 base)
$5.36
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1926
17.7
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
$100 in 1922 → 1926
$105
$100 in 1926 → 1922
$94.92
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1926
Between 1922 and 1926, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 17.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 5.4%, which works out to an average of
1.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.95 buys in 1926: the 1922 dollar
lost 5.1% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
Every 1922 amount converts to 1926 at the same ratio, 1.05: $1,000 becomes
$1,054, and $10,000 becomes $10,536.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1926
$1.00
$1.05
$5.00
$5.27
$10.00
$10.54
$20.00
$21.07
$50.00
$52.68
$100
$105
$500
$527
$1,000
$1,054
$5,000
$5,268
$10,000
$10,536
$100,000
$105,357
$1,000,000
$1,053,571
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1926
Between 1922 and 1926, food rose the most, up 14.1%, while apparel fell 4.1%, against 5.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1926, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.31%
$105
Food
3.35%
$114
Apparel
-1.03%
$95.93
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1922: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $102 by
1924, on its way to $105 in 1926; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.3% in 1925, and the smallest rise was 0.0% in 1924.
In 1926, prices rose 1.1% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $105; the year's average CPI of 17.7 is the level
behind every 1926 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1926: $100 is worth $105 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1926/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1926. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1926/