$100 in 1922 is worth $104 in 1927,
because prices increased 3.6% over that period, an average of
0.70% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$104
in 1927
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
3.6%
Average inflation rate
0.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$104
Price difference ($100 base)
$3.57
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1927
17.4
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
$100 in 1922 → 1927
$104
$100 in 1927 → 1922
$96.55
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1927
Between 1922 and 1927, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 17.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 3.6%, which works out to an average of
0.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.97 buys in 1927: the 1922 dollar
lost 3.4% of its purchasing power over
these 5 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 1927 at the same ratio, 1.04: $1,000 becomes
$1,036, and $10,000 becomes $10,357.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1927
$1.00
$1.04
$5.00
$5.18
$10.00
$10.36
$20.00
$20.71
$50.00
$51.79
$100
$104
$500
$518
$1,000
$1,036
$5,000
$5,179
$10,000
$10,357
$100,000
$103,571
$1,000,000
$1,035,714
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1927
Between 1922 and 1927, food rose the most, up 10.1%, while apparel fell 6.3%, against 3.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1927, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.70%
$104
Food
1.94%
$110
Apparel
-1.29%
$93.70
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 $104 in 1927; 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 prices fell 1.7% in 1927, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1927, prices fell 1.7% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $104; the year's average CPI of 17.4 is the level
behind every 1927 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1927, a mild retreat after three years of
gradual increases and part of a shallow up-and-down pattern that ran through
the second half of the decade. Aviation delivered the year’s signature
moment: Charles Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field, New York, on May 20 and
landed at Le Bourget Field outside Paris roughly 33.5 hours later, the first
person to fly the Atlantic solo and nonstop. Detroit closed a chapter of its
own that May, when Ford halted the Model T’s production line after nearly 19
years and more than 15 million cars sold, idling tens of thousands of
workers while its factories retooled for the Model A. The Federal Reserve,
meeting with European central bankers that summer, cut its discount rate to
ease pressure on currencies still recovering from the war, a move later
cited by economists including Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz as fuel for
the stock market speculation that built through the following two years.
First-class postage held at 2 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1927: $100 is worth $104 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1927/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1927. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1927/