$100 in 1922 is worth $81.55 in 1932,
because prices declined 18.5% over that period, an average of
2.02% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$81.55
in 1932
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-18.5%
Average inflation rate
-2.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$81.55
Price difference ($100 base)
-$18.45
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1932
13.7
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
$100 in 1922 → 1932
$81.55
$100 in 1932 → 1922
$123
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1932
Between 1922 and 1932, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices declined 18.5%, which works out to an average of
-2.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$1.23 buys in 1932: the 1922 dollar
gained 22.6% in purchasing power over
these 10 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 1932 at the same ratio, 0.82: $1,000 becomes
$815, and $10,000 becomes $8,155.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1932
$1.00
$0.82
$5.00
$4.08
$10.00
$8.15
$20.00
$16.31
$50.00
$40.77
$100
$81.55
$500
$408
$1,000
$815
$5,000
$4,077
$10,000
$8,155
$100,000
$81,548
$1,000,000
$815,476
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1932
Every category fell between 1922 and 1932: food the most, down 28.2%, and apparel the least, down 27.8%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1932, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
-2.02%
$81.55
Apparel
-3.20%
$72.22
Food
-3.26%
$71.81
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–).
Decade by decade: 1922 to 1932
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.1% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (9.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1922–1932 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1922, at end
1922–1930
-0.07%
-0.6%
$99.40
1930–1932
-9.43%
-18.0%
$81.55
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $104 by
1927, on its way to $81.55 in 1932; 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 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1932, prices fell 9.9% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $81.55; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1932 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the steepest single-year drop in the
CPI’s history to that point and the third straight year of decline following
1930 and 1931. Wages, farm incomes, and
industrial output all kept falling, and Congress tried to arrest the credit
collapse by creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation that January,
capitalized at $500 million with authority to borrow up to $1.5 billion to
lend directly to banks, railroads, and other struggling businesses. Relief
did not reach ordinary households as quickly. That summer, tens of thousands
of World War I veterans and their families camped in Washington demanding
early payment of a service bonus not due until 1945; in July, U.S. Army
troops under General Douglas MacArthur forcibly dispersed the encampment, an
episode that badly damaged the Hoover administration’s standing months
before an election it was already losing. Voters delivered their verdict on
November 8, electing Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide over the
incumbent Hoover on a promise of relief and a “new deal for the American
people.” Roosevelt would not take office until the following March, leaving
a long and difficult transition during the depths of the crisis. First-class
postage rose from 2 cents to 3 cents on July 6, the first change to the rate
since 1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1932: $100 is worth $81.55 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1932/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1932. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1932/