$100 in 1922 is worth $1,277 in 2009,
because prices increased 1177.0% over that period, an average of
2.97% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$1,277
in 2009
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1177.0%
Average inflation rate
2.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,277
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,177
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 2009
214.537
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
$100 in 1922 → 2009
$1,277
$100 in 2009 → 1922
$7.83
What happened to prices between 1922 and 2009
Between 1922 and 2009, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 214.537.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1177.0%, which works out to an average of
2.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2009: the 1922 dollar
lost 92.2% of its purchasing power over
these 87 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 2009 at the same ratio, 12.77: $1,000 becomes
$12,770, and $10,000 becomes $127,701.
Amount in 1922
Value in 2009
$1.00
$12.77
$5.00
$63.85
$10.00
$128
$20.00
$255
$50.00
$639
$100
$1,277
$500
$6,385
$1,000
$12,770
$5,000
$63,850
$10,000
$127,701
$100,000
$1,277,006
$1,000,000
$12,770,060
Inflation by spending category, 1922–2009
Between 1922 and 2009, food rose the most, up 1362.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 344.7%, against 1177.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 2009, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.97%
$1,277
Food
3.13%
$1,463
Apparel
1.73%
$445
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 2009
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 1922–2009 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
2000–2009
2.47%
24.6%
$1,277
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $199 by
1967, on its way to $1,277 in 2009; 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: 2009
In 2009, prices fell 0.4% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $1,277; the year's average CPI of 214.537 is the level
behind every 2009 figure on this page.
2009 is the rarest kind of year in the modern price data: one where the cost
of living went down. The CPI fell 0.4%, the first full-year deflation
since 1955, as the Great Recession hollowed out demand and oil unwound from
its $147 spike the summer before. Gasoline that had cost over $4 a gallon in
July 2008 averaged $2.35 in 2009, and that energy collapse dragged the
12-month inflation rate to −2.1% by July, the deepest reading since 1950.
Policymakers treated falling prices not as relief but as a warning: deflation
raises the real weight of debt precisely when households are drowning in it,
which is why the Federal Reserve pinned interest rates near zero, began buying
bonds by the hundreds of billions, and Washington passed a $787 billion
stimulus. The medicine took: prices stabilized within a year, and 2009 remains
the textbook case of why central banks fear deflation more than moderate
inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 2009: $100 is worth $1,277 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2009/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 2009. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2009/