$100 in 1924 is worth $1,036 in 2001,
because prices increased 935.7% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$1,036
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
935.7%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,036
Price difference ($100 base)
$936
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1924 → 2001
$1,036
$100 in 2001 → 1924
$9.66
What happened to prices between 1924 and 2001
Between 1924 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 935.7%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2001: the 1924 dollar
lost 90.3% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 2001 at the same ratio, 10.36: $1,000 becomes
$10,357, and $10,000 becomes $103,567.
Amount in 1924
Value in 2001
$1.00
$10.36
$5.00
$51.78
$10.00
$104
$20.00
$207
$50.00
$518
$100
$1,036
$500
$5,178
$1,000
$10,357
$5,000
$51,784
$10,000
$103,567
$100,000
$1,035,673
$1,000,000
$10,356,725
Inflation by spending category, 1924–2001
Between 1924 and 2001, food rose the most, up 1038.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 375.0%, against 935.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$1,036
Food
3.21%
$1,139
Apparel
2.04%
$475
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 2001
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 1924–2001 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,007
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,036
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $181 by
1964, on its way to $1,036 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $1,036; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,036 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2001/