$100 in 1924 is worth $796 in 1991,
because prices increased 696.5% over that period, an average of
3.15% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$796
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
696.5%
Average inflation rate
3.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$796
Price difference ($100 base)
$696
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1924 → 1991
$796
$100 in 1991 → 1924
$12.56
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1991
Between 1924 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 696.5%, which works out to an average of
3.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1991: the 1924 dollar
lost 87.4% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 1991 at the same ratio, 7.96: $1,000 becomes
$7,965, and $10,000 becomes $79,649.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1991
$1.00
$7.96
$5.00
$39.82
$10.00
$79.65
$20.00
$159
$50.00
$398
$100
$796
$500
$3,982
$1,000
$7,965
$5,000
$39,825
$10,000
$79,649
$100,000
$796,491
$1,000,000
$7,964,912
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1991
Between 1924 and 1991, food rose the most, up 796.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 380.2%, against 696.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.15%
$796
Food
3.33%
$897
Apparel
2.37%
$480
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 1991
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 1924–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$764
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$796
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $170 by
1959, on its way to $796 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $796; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1991: $100 is worth $796 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1991/