$100 in 1922 is worth $249 in 1972,
because prices increased 148.8% over that period, an average of
1.84% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$249
in 1972
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
148.8%
Average inflation rate
1.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$249
Price difference ($100 base)
$149
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1972
41.8
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
$100 in 1922 → 1972
$249
$100 in 1972 → 1922
$40.19
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1972
Between 1922 and 1972, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 41.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 148.8%, which works out to an average of
1.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.40 buys in 1972: the 1922 dollar
lost 59.8% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 1972 at the same ratio, 2.49: $1,000 becomes
$2,488, and $10,000 becomes $24,881.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1972
$1.00
$2.49
$5.00
$12.44
$10.00
$24.88
$20.00
$49.76
$50.00
$124
$100
$249
$500
$1,244
$1,000
$2,488
$5,000
$12,440
$10,000
$24,881
$100,000
$248,810
$1,000,000
$2,488,095
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1972
Between 1922 and 1972, food rose the most, up 182.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 130.7%, against 148.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1972, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.84%
$249
Food
2.10%
$283
Apparel
1.69%
$231
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 1972
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 1922–1972 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
1970–1972
3.79%
7.7%
$249
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $116 by
1946, on its way to $249 in 1972; 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: 1972
In 1972, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $249; the year's average CPI of 41.8 is the level
behind every 1972 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose just 3.2% in 1972, the calmest year of the decade and a
sharp break from the previous two years. The relief was largely engineered:
Nixon’s wage and price controls, imposed as a 90-day freeze in August 1971,
had settled into a series of “phases” that capped how much businesses could
raise prices through the election year. Economists would later argue the
controls mostly deferred inflation rather than curing it, storing up pressure
that broke loose once they were lifted. Nixon spent political capital on
foreign policy that year, traveling to Beijing that February in the first
visit by a sitting U.S. president to the People’s Republic of China, a trip
that began normalizing relations Washington had frozen since 1949. Closer to
home, five men were arrested breaking into the Democratic National
Committee’s offices at the Watergate complex that June 17, an event that drew
little attention at the time but would eventually force Nixon from office.
None of it dented his re-election bid: Nixon carried 49 states against
Democrat George McGovern that November, helped by an economy that, on paper,
looked more stable than it had in years. A median household earned $9,697 in
1972, a new home sold for a median $27,600, and gas held near 36 cents a
gallon for a third straight year. Consumer prices stood 322.2% above their
1913 level, a lull that would not survive contact with the
controls’ expiration and the oil shock still to come.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1972: $100 is worth $249 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1972/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1972. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1972/