$100 in 1922 is worth $704 in 1988,
because prices increased 604.2% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$704
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
604.2%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$704
Price difference ($100 base)
$604
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1922 → 1988
$704
$100 in 1988 → 1922
$14.20
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1988
Between 1922 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 604.2%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1988: the 1922 dollar
lost 85.8% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 1988 at the same ratio, 7.04: $1,000 becomes
$7,042, and $10,000 becomes $70,417.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1988
$1.00
$7.04
$5.00
$35.21
$10.00
$70.42
$20.00
$141
$50.00
$352
$100
$704
$500
$3,521
$1,000
$7,042
$5,000
$35,208
$10,000
$70,417
$100,000
$704,167
$1,000,000
$7,041,667
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1988
Between 1922 and 1988, food rose the most, up 693.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 327.4%, against 604.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$704
Food
3.19%
$793
Apparel
2.23%
$427
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 1988
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 1922–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$704
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $167 by
1957, on its way to $704 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $704; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1988: $100 is worth $704 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1988/