$100 in 1922 is worth $738 in 1989,
because prices increased 638.1% over that period, an average of
3.03% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$738
in 1989
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
638.1%
Average inflation rate
3.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$738
Price difference ($100 base)
$638
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1989
124
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1989
4.82%
$100 in 1922 → 1989
$738
$100 in 1989 → 1922
$13.55
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1989
Between 1922 and 1989, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 124.
Cumulatively, prices increased 638.1%, which works out to an average of
3.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1989: the 1922 dollar
lost 86.5% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 1989 at the same ratio, 7.38: $1,000 becomes
$7,381, and $10,000 becomes $73,810.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1989
$1.00
$7.38
$5.00
$36.90
$10.00
$73.81
$20.00
$148
$50.00
$369
$100
$738
$500
$3,690
$1,000
$7,381
$5,000
$36,905
$10,000
$73,810
$100,000
$738,095
$1,000,000
$7,380,952
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1989
Between 1922 and 1989, food rose the most, up 739.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 339.3%, against 638.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1989, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.03%
$738
Food
3.23%
$840
Apparel
2.23%
$439
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 1989
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 1922–1989 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
1980–1989
4.65%
50.5%
$738
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $167 by
1957, on its way to $738 in 1989; 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: 1989
In 1989, prices rose 4.8% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $738; the year's average CPI of 124 is the level
behind every 1989 figure on this page.
1989 closed out a decade that began in economic crisis and ended in a long,
calmer expansion. Inflation for the year came in at 4.8%, higher than the
mid-decade lull but still roughly a third of the 13.5% peak that had opened
the decade in 1980. The federal minimum wage, unchanged at $3.35 an hour
since January 1981, had gone longer without an increase than at any point
since Congress created it, and had lost close to a third of its purchasing
power to inflation in the meantime; lawmakers would finally raise it to
$3.80 the following April. The decade’s other unfinished business came due
in August, when Congress passed FIRREA, the law that created the Resolution
Trust Corporation to seize and sell off the hundreds of savings and loan
institutions that a decade of deregulation and risky lending had left
insolvent, a bailout that eventually cost taxpayers over $100 billion. On
Wall Street, the recovery was already complete: the Dow Jones Industrial
Average closed 1989 at a record high, just over two years after Black
Monday’s 22.6% single-day crash, capping the bull market that had begun at
the Dow’s 776 low in August 1982. Between the S&L bailout, a wage floor
eroded by years without a raise, and a stock market at new highs, 1989
captured how unevenly the decade’s disinflation had been felt.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1989: $100 is worth $738 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1989/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1989. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1989/