$100 in 1922 is worth $1,163 in 2005,
because prices increased 1062.5% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$1,163
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1062.5%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,163
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,063
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1922 → 2005
$1,163
$100 in 2005 → 1922
$8.60
What happened to prices between 1922 and 2005
Between 1922 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1062.5%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2005: the 1922 dollar
lost 91.4% of its purchasing power over
these 83 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 2005 at the same ratio, 11.63: $1,000 becomes
$11,625, and $10,000 becomes $116,250.
Amount in 1922
Value in 2005
$1.00
$11.63
$5.00
$58.13
$10.00
$116
$20.00
$233
$50.00
$581
$100
$1,163
$500
$5,813
$1,000
$11,625
$5,000
$58,125
$10,000
$116,250
$100,000
$1,162,500
$1,000,000
$11,625,000
Inflation by spending category, 1922–2005
Between 1922 and 2005, food rose the most, up 1179.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 342.6%, against 1062.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$1,163
Food
3.12%
$1,280
Apparel
1.81%
$443
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 2005
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 1922–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$1,163
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $180 by
1962, on its way to $1,163 in 2005; 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: 2005
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $1,163; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 2005: $100 is worth $1,163 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2005/