$100 in 1922 is worth $882 in 1994,
because prices increased 782.1% over that period, an average of
3.07% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$882
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
782.1%
Average inflation rate
3.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$882
Price difference ($100 base)
$782
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1922 → 1994
$882
$100 in 1994 → 1922
$11.34
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1994
Between 1922 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 782.1%, which works out to an average of
3.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1994: the 1922 dollar
lost 88.7% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 1994 at the same ratio, 8.82: $1,000 becomes
$8,821, and $10,000 becomes $88,214.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1994
$1.00
$8.82
$5.00
$44.11
$10.00
$88.21
$20.00
$176
$50.00
$441
$100
$882
$500
$4,411
$1,000
$8,821
$5,000
$44,107
$10,000
$88,214
$100,000
$882,143
$1,000,000
$8,821,429
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1994
Between 1922 and 1994, food rose the most, up 868.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 394.1%, against 782.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.07%
$882
Food
3.20%
$968
Apparel
2.24%
$494
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 1994
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 1922–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$882
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $167 by
1957, on its way to $882 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $882; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1994: $100 is worth $882 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1994/