$100 in 1922 is worth $1,339 in 2011,
because prices increased 1238.9% over that period, an average of
2.96% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$1,339
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1238.9%
Average inflation rate
2.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,339
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,239
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1922 → 2011
$1,339
$100 in 2011 → 1922
$7.47
What happened to prices between 1922 and 2011
Between 1922 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1238.9%, which works out to an average of
2.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2011: the 1922 dollar
lost 92.5% of its purchasing power over
these 89 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 2011 at the same ratio, 13.39: $1,000 becomes
$13,389, and $10,000 becomes $133,892.
Amount in 1922
Value in 2011
$1.00
$13.39
$5.00
$66.95
$10.00
$134
$20.00
$268
$50.00
$669
$100
$1,339
$500
$6,695
$1,000
$13,389
$5,000
$66,946
$10,000
$133,892
$100,000
$1,338,923
$1,000,000
$13,389,226
Inflation by spending category, 1922–2011
Between 1922 and 2011, food rose the most, up 1429.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 352.3%, against 1238.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.96%
$1,339
Food
3.11%
$1,529
Apparel
1.71%
$452
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 2011
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 1922–2011 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,298
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$1,339
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $199 by
1967, on its way to $1,339 in 2011; 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: 2011
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $1,339; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 2011: $100 is worth $1,339 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2011/