$100 in 1922 is worth $970 in 1998,
because prices increased 870.2% over that period, an average of
3.04% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$970
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
870.2%
Average inflation rate
3.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$970
Price difference ($100 base)
$870
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1922 → 1998
$970
$100 in 1998 → 1922
$10.31
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1998
Between 1922 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 870.2%, which works out to an average of
3.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1998: the 1922 dollar
lost 89.7% of its purchasing power over
these 76 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 1998 at the same ratio, 9.70: $1,000 becomes
$9,702, and $10,000 becomes $97,024.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1998
$1.00
$9.70
$5.00
$48.51
$10.00
$97.02
$20.00
$194
$50.00
$485
$100
$970
$500
$4,851
$1,000
$9,702
$5,000
$48,512
$10,000
$97,024
$100,000
$970,238
$1,000,000
$9,702,381
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1998
Between 1922 and 1998, food rose the most, up 978.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 392.6%, against 870.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.04%
$970
Food
3.18%
$1,079
Apparel
2.12%
$493
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 1998
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 1922–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$970
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $180 by
1962, on its way to $970 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $970; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1998: $100 is worth $970 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1998/