$100 in 1922 is worth $593 in 1983,
because prices increased 492.9% over that period, an average of
2.96% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$593
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
492.9%
Average inflation rate
2.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$593
Price difference ($100 base)
$493
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1922 → 1983
$593
$100 in 1983 → 1922
$16.87
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1983
Between 1922 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 492.9%, which works out to an average of
2.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1983: the 1922 dollar
lost 83.1% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1983 at the same ratio, 5.93: $1,000 becomes
$5,929, and $10,000 becomes $59,286.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1983
$1.00
$5.93
$5.00
$29.64
$10.00
$59.29
$20.00
$119
$50.00
$296
$100
$593
$500
$2,964
$1,000
$5,929
$5,000
$29,643
$10,000
$59,286
$100,000
$592,857
$1,000,000
$5,928,571
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1983
Between 1922 and 1983, food rose the most, up 567.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 271.1%, against 492.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.96%
$593
Food
3.16%
$667
Apparel
2.17%
$371
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 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1922–1983 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$490
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$593
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $158 by
1952, on its way to $593 in 1983; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1983
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $593; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1983: $100 is worth $593 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1983/