$100 in 1922 is worth $1,095 in 2003,
because prices increased 995.2% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$1,095
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
995.2%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,095
Price difference ($100 base)
$995
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1922 → 2003
$1,095
$100 in 2003 → 1922
$9.13
What happened to prices between 1922 and 2003
Between 1922 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 995.2%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2003: the 1922 dollar
lost 90.9% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 2003 at the same ratio, 10.95: $1,000 becomes
$10,952, and $10,000 becomes $109,524.
Amount in 1922
Value in 2003
$1.00
$10.95
$5.00
$54.76
$10.00
$110
$20.00
$219
$50.00
$548
$100
$1,095
$500
$5,476
$1,000
$10,952
$5,000
$54,762
$10,000
$109,524
$100,000
$1,095,238
$1,000,000
$10,952,381
Inflation by spending category, 1922–2003
Between 1922 and 2003, food rose the most, up 1108.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 347.8%, against 995.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$1,095
Food
3.12%
$1,208
Apparel
1.87%
$448
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 2003
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 1922–2003 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,025
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$1,095
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $180 by
1962, on its way to $1,095 in 2003; 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: 2003
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $1,095; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 2003: $100 is worth $1,095 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2003/