$100 in 1922 is worth $640 in 1985,
because prices increased 540.5% over that period, an average of
2.99% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$640
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
540.5%
Average inflation rate
2.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$640
Price difference ($100 base)
$540
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1922 → 1985
$640
$100 in 1985 → 1922
$15.61
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1985
Between 1922 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 540.5%, which works out to an average of
2.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1985: the 1922 dollar
lost 84.4% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 1985 at the same ratio, 6.40: $1,000 becomes
$6,405, and $10,000 becomes $64,048.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1985
$1.00
$6.40
$5.00
$32.02
$10.00
$64.05
$20.00
$128
$50.00
$320
$100
$640
$500
$3,202
$1,000
$6,405
$5,000
$32,024
$10,000
$64,048
$100,000
$640,476
$1,000,000
$6,404,762
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1985
Between 1922 and 1985, food rose the most, up 608.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 288.9%, against 540.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.99%
$640
Food
3.16%
$709
Apparel
2.18%
$389
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 1985
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 1922–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$640
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $158 by
1952, on its way to $640 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $640; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1985: $100 is worth $640 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1985/