$100 in 1922 is worth $81.55 in 1935,
because prices declined 18.5% over that period, an average of
1.56% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$81.55
in 1935
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-18.5%
Average inflation rate
-1.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$81.55
Price difference ($100 base)
-$18.45
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1935
13.7
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
$100 in 1922 → 1935
$81.55
$100 in 1935 → 1922
$123
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1935
Between 1922 and 1935, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices declined 18.5%, which works out to an average of
-1.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$1.23 buys in 1935: the 1922 dollar
gained 22.6% in purchasing power over
these 13 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 1935 at the same ratio, 0.82: $1,000 becomes
$815, and $10,000 becomes $8,155.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1935
$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, 1922–1935
Every category fell between 1922 and 1935: apparel the most, down 23.0%, and food the least, down 16.8%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1935, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.56%
$81.55
Food
-1.40%
$83.22
Apparel
-1.99%
$77.04
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 1935
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.1% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (3.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1922–1935 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1922, at end
1922–1930
-0.07%
-0.6%
$99.40
1930–1935
-3.88%
-18.0%
$81.55
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $102 by
1928, on its way to $81.55 in 1935; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.1% in 1934, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1935, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $81.55; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1935 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1935: $100 is worth $81.55 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1935/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1935. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1935/