$100 in 1922 is worth $618 in 1984,
because prices increased 518.5% over that period, an average of
2.98% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$618
in 1984
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
518.5%
Average inflation rate
2.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$618
Price difference ($100 base)
$518
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1984
103.9
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
$100 in 1922 → 1984
$618
$100 in 1984 → 1922
$16.17
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1984
Between 1922 and 1984, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 103.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 518.5%, which works out to an average of
2.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1984: the 1922 dollar
lost 83.8% of its purchasing power over
these 62 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 1984 at the same ratio, 6.18: $1,000 becomes
$6,185, and $10,000 becomes $61,845.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1984
$1.00
$6.18
$5.00
$30.92
$10.00
$61.85
$20.00
$124
$50.00
$309
$100
$618
$500
$3,092
$1,000
$6,185
$5,000
$30,923
$10,000
$61,845
$100,000
$618,452
$1,000,000
$6,184,524
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1984
Between 1922 and 1984, food rose the most, up 592.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 278.1%, against 518.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1984, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.98%
$618
Food
3.17%
$693
Apparel
2.17%
$378
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 1984
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 1922–1984 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
1980–1984
5.97%
26.1%
$618
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $158 by
1952, on its way to $618 in 1984; 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: 1984
In 1984, prices rose 4.3% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $618; the year's average CPI of 103.9 is the level
behind every 1984 figure on this page.
1984 was the year the recovery became a boom. Real GDP grew 7.2%, the
fastest calendar-year growth since 1951, as the tax cuts passed in 1981
combined with falling interest rates and rebuilding consumer confidence.
Unemployment, which had topped 10.8% just two years earlier, fell below
7.5%. Inflation ticked up to 4.3% from 3.2% the year before, but nothing
close to a return of the 1970s wage-price spiral: the Federal Reserve under
Paul Volcker kept policy tight enough to hold the line while growth ran hot.
The strength of the expansion, branded “Morning in America” in President
Reagan’s reelection campaign, carried him to a 49-state landslide over
Walter Mondale that November, at the time the widest electoral-vote margin
in U.S. history. For households, the numbers behind the slogan were
concrete: median income rose to about $22,400, and a gallon of gas cost
$1.13, roughly what it had cost three years earlier even as wages kept
climbing. The contrast with 1980, when 13.5% inflation and interest rates
near 20% had defined the economy, could not have been sharper.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1984: $100 is worth $618 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1984/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1984. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1984/