$100 in 1924 is worth $532 in 1981,
because prices increased 431.6% over that period, an average of
2.97% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$532
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
431.6%
Average inflation rate
2.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$532
Price difference ($100 base)
$432
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1924 → 1981
$532
$100 in 1981 → 1924
$18.81
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1981
Between 1924 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 431.6%, which works out to an average of
2.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.19 buys in 1981: the 1924 dollar
lost 81.2% of its purchasing power over
these 57 years.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1924 amount converts to 1981 at the same ratio, 5.32: $1,000 becomes
$5,316, and $10,000 becomes $53,158.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1981
$1.00
$5.32
$5.00
$26.58
$10.00
$53.16
$20.00
$106
$50.00
$266
$100
$532
$500
$2,658
$1,000
$5,316
$5,000
$26,579
$10,000
$53,158
$100,000
$531,579
$1,000,000
$5,315,789
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1981
Between 1924 and 1981, food rose the most, up 515.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 255.6%, against 431.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.97%
$532
Food
3.24%
$616
Apparel
2.25%
$356
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1924: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1924 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1981 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$227
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$482
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$532
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $155 by
1952, on its way to $532 in 1981; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $532; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1981: $100 is worth $532 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1981/