$100 in 1922 is worth $218 in 1969,
because prices increased 118.5% over that period, an average of
1.68% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$218
in 1969
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
118.5%
Average inflation rate
1.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$218
Price difference ($100 base)
$118
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1969
36.7
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1969
5.46%
$100 in 1922 → 1969
$218
$100 in 1969 → 1922
$45.78
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1969
Between 1922 and 1969, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 36.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 118.5%, which works out to an average of
1.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1969: the 1922 dollar
lost 54.2% of its purchasing power over
these 47 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 1969 at the same ratio, 2.18: $1,000 becomes
$2,185, and $10,000 becomes $21,845.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1969
$1.00
$2.18
$5.00
$10.92
$10.00
$21.85
$20.00
$43.69
$50.00
$109
$100
$218
$500
$1,092
$1,000
$2,185
$5,000
$10,923
$10,000
$21,845
$100,000
$218,452
$1,000,000
$2,184,524
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1969
Between 1922 and 1969, food rose the most, up 149.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 110.4%, against 118.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1969, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.68%
$218
Food
1.96%
$249
Apparel
1.59%
$210
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 1969
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1922–1969 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1922, at end
1922–1930
-0.07%
-0.6%
$99.40
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$83.33
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$143
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$176
1960–1969
2.42%
24.0%
$218
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $116 by
1946, on its way to $218 in 1969; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1969
In 1969, prices rose 5.5% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $218; the year's average CPI of 36.7 is the level
behind every 1969 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.5% in 1969, up from 1968’s 4.2% and
the fastest pace since the Korean War era, as years of Vietnam War
spending, a labor market with unemployment under 4%, and expansionary
fiscal policy finally showed up fully in prices. Richard Nixon was
inaugurated that January 20, pledging to curb rising prices without wage
and price controls, a position he would reverse within two years. The
decade’s most triumphant moment came that July 20, when Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon while Michael Collins orbited above,
fulfilling the goal Kennedy had set in 1961 of landing a man on the lunar
surface before the decade’s end. Culture and protest both reached new
extremes that year: an estimated 400,000 people gathered on a dairy farm
in Bethel, New York, for the Woodstock music festival that August, and a
police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village that
June touched off days of resistance now credited with launching the
modern gay rights movement. Consumer prices finished the decade 270.7%
above their 1913 level, up 24.0% from where they stood in
1960. The 1960s had opened with inflation near 1% a year and closed with
prices rising faster than at any point since Korea, setting up the Great
Inflation that would define the
1970s. First-class postage held at 6 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at $1.60 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1969: $100 is worth $218 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1969/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1969. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1969/