$100 in 1922 is worth $1,613 in 2021,
because prices increased 1512.9% over that period, an average of
2.85% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$1,613
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1512.9%
Average inflation rate
2.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,613
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,513
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1922 → 2021
$1,613
$100 in 2021 → 1922
$6.20
What happened to prices between 1922 and 2021
Between 1922 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1512.9%, which works out to an average of
2.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2021: the 1922 dollar
lost 93.8% of its purchasing power over
these 99 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 2021 at the same ratio, 16.13: $1,000 becomes
$16,129, and $10,000 becomes $161,292.
Amount in 1922
Value in 2021
$1.00
$16.13
$5.00
$80.65
$10.00
$161
$20.00
$323
$50.00
$806
$100
$1,613
$500
$8,065
$1,000
$16,129
$5,000
$80,646
$10,000
$161,292
$100,000
$1,612,917
$1,000,000
$16,129,167
Inflation by spending category, 1922–2021
Between 1922 and 2021, food rose the most, up 1764.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 348.1%, against 1512.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.85%
$1,613
Food
3.00%
$1,864
Apparel
1.53%
$448
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 2021
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 1922–2021 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,541
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$1,613
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $249 by
1972, on its way to $1,613 in 2021; 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: 2021
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $1,613; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 2021: $100 is worth $1,613 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-2021/