$100 in 1922 is worth $241 in 1971,
because prices increased 141.1% over that period, an average of
1.81% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$241
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
141.1%
Average inflation rate
1.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$241
Price difference ($100 base)
$141
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1922 → 1971
$241
$100 in 1971 → 1922
$41.48
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1971
Between 1922 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 141.1%, which works out to an average of
1.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.41 buys in 1971: the 1922 dollar
lost 58.5% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1971 at the same ratio, 2.41: $1,000 becomes
$2,411, and $10,000 becomes $24,107.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1971
$1.00
$2.41
$5.00
$12.05
$10.00
$24.11
$20.00
$48.21
$50.00
$121
$100
$241
$500
$1,205
$1,000
$2,411
$5,000
$12,054
$10,000
$24,107
$100,000
$241,071
$1,000,000
$2,410,714
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1971
Between 1922 and 1971, food rose the most, up 171.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 126.3%, against 141.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.81%
$241
Food
2.06%
$271
Apparel
1.68%
$226
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 1971
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 1922–1971 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$231
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$241
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $116 by
1946, on its way to $241 in 1971; 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: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $241; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1971: $100 is worth $241 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1971/