$100 in 1922 is worth $860 in 1993,
because prices increased 760.1% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$860
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
760.1%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$860
Price difference ($100 base)
$760
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1922 → 1993
$860
$100 in 1993 → 1922
$11.63
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1993
Between 1922 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 760.1%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1993: the 1922 dollar
lost 88.4% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 1993 at the same ratio, 8.60: $1,000 becomes
$8,601, and $10,000 becomes $86,012.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1993
$1.00
$8.60
$5.00
$43.01
$10.00
$86.01
$20.00
$172
$50.00
$430
$100
$860
$500
$4,301
$1,000
$8,601
$5,000
$43,006
$10,000
$86,012
$100,000
$860,119
$1,000,000
$8,601,190
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1993
Between 1922 and 1993, food rose the most, up 845.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 395.2%, against 760.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$860
Food
3.21%
$946
Apparel
2.28%
$495
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 1993
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 1922–1993 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$778
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$860
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $167 by
1957, on its way to $860 in 1993; 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: 1993
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $860; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1993: $100 is worth $860 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1993/