$100 in 1922 is worth $1,124 in 2004,
because prices increased 1024.4% over that period, an average of
2.99% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$1,124
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1024.4%
Average inflation rate
2.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,124
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,024
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1922 → 2004
$1,124
$100 in 2004 → 1922
$8.89
What happened to prices between 1922 and 2004
Between 1922 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1024.4%, which works out to an average of
2.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2004: the 1922 dollar
lost 91.1% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2004 at the same ratio, 11.24: $1,000 becomes
$11,244, and $10,000 becomes $112,440.
Amount in 1922
Value in 2004
$1.00
$11.24
$5.00
$56.22
$10.00
$112
$20.00
$225
$50.00
$562
$100
$1,124
$500
$5,622
$1,000
$11,244
$5,000
$56,220
$10,000
$112,440
$100,000
$1,124,405
$1,000,000
$11,244,048
Inflation by spending category, 1922–2004
Between 1922 and 2004, food rose the most, up 1149.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 345.9%, against 1024.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.99%
$1,124
Food
3.13%
$1,250
Apparel
1.84%
$446
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 2004
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 1922–2004 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
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$1,124
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $180 by
1962, on its way to $1,124 in 2004; 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: 2004
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $1,124; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 2004: $100 is worth $1,124 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2004/