$100 in 1922 is worth $1,495 in 2018,
because prices increased 1394.7% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$1,495
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1394.7%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,495
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,395
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1922 → 2018
$1,495
$100 in 2018 → 1922
$6.69
What happened to prices between 1922 and 2018
Between 1922 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1394.7%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2018: the 1922 dollar
lost 93.3% of its purchasing power over
these 96 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 2018 at the same ratio, 14.95: $1,000 becomes
$14,947, and $10,000 becomes $149,468.
Amount in 1922
Value in 2018
$1.00
$14.95
$5.00
$74.73
$10.00
$149
$20.00
$299
$50.00
$747
$100
$1,495
$500
$7,473
$1,000
$14,947
$5,000
$74,734
$10,000
$149,468
$100,000
$1,494,685
$1,000,000
$14,946,845
Inflation by spending category, 1922–2018
Between 1922 and 2018, food rose the most, up 1601.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 365.4%, against 1394.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$1,495
Food
3.00%
$1,702
Apparel
1.61%
$465
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 2018
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 1922–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$1,495
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $249 by
1972, on its way to $1,495 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $1,495; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 2018: $100 is worth $1,495 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2018/