Consumer prices rose 1.8% in 1923, the first increase since 1920 and a sign the postwar deflation had run its course; the economy settled into the steadier growth that defined much of the rest of the decade. The year’s biggest shock was political rather than economic: Warren Harding died August 2 in San Francisco while returning from a trip to Alaska, and Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in the next day at his family’s farmhouse in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, administered the oath of office by his own father, a notary public, by lamplight. Coolidge would go on to preside over the low, stable inflation of the “Roaring Twenties.” The contrast with Germany that year was stark. The Weimar Republic’s currency collapse reached its peak in November 1923, with prices doubling every few days and a loaf of bread costing billions of marks; Germany introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark, that month to halt the spiral. U.S. consumer prices, by comparison, had moved in single digits or held flat every year since 1921, a gap that shaped how American economists would later think about what made the postwar inflation of Europe so different from the mild swings at home. First-class postage stayed at 2 cents.
Year in review
Inflation in 1923
The U.S. inflation rate in 1923 was 1.8% (CPI: 17.1). Convert 1923 dollars to today →
1.8% 1923 inflation rate
0.1% 1920s average
3.6% peak month (Sep)
-0.6% lowest month (Jan)
What things cost in 1923
| First-class stamp | $0.02 |
|---|
What $100 from 1923 was worth later
| In 1930 | $97.66 |
|---|---|
| In 1940 | $81.87 |
| In 1950 | $141 |
| In 1960 | $173 |
| In 1970 | $227 |
| In 1980 | $482 |
| In 1990 | $764 |
| In 2000 | $1,007 |
| In 2010 | $1,275 |
| In 2020 | $1,514 |
| In 2026 | $1,940 |
Inflation in 1923, month by month
| Month | CPI-U | 12-month rate |
|---|---|---|
| January | 16.8 | -0.6% |
| February | 16.8 | -0.6% |
| March | 16.8 | 0.6% |
| April | 16.9 | 1.2% |
| May | 16.9 | 1.2% |
| June | 17 | 1.8% |
| July | 17.2 | 2.4% |
| August | 17.1 | 3.0% |
| September | 17.2 | 3.6% |
| October | 17.3 | 3.6% |
| November | 17.3 | 3.0% |
| December | 17.3 | 2.4% |
Economic events of 1923
- Consumer prices rise 1.8%, the first increase in three years After two years of deflation, the CPI turned back up as the economy settled into the stronger, steadier growth that would characterize much of the rest of the decade.
- President Harding dies in office; Calvin Coolidge is sworn in Harding died August 2 in San Francisco while returning from a trip to Alaska. Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in the next day at his family's Vermont farmhouse, administered the oath by his father, a notary public, by lamplight.
- Germany's hyperinflation reaches its peak The Weimar Republic's currency collapse culminated in November 1923, when prices were doubling every few days and a loaf of bread cost billions of marks. Germany introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark, that month to stabilize prices, a contrast to the mild, single-digit price swings the U.S. CPI recorded across the whole decade.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index history; National Archives, death of Warren Harding and succession of Calvin Coolidge; Federal Reserve History, German hyperinflation of the 1920s; USPS historical postage rates.
Inflation figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages. See the methodology.