$100 in 1920 → $1,294 in 2020
US inflation from 1920 to 2020 — total 1194.0%.
Value in 2020
$1,294
Total change
+1194.0%
Annual (CAGR)
2.59%
Years
100
Step-by-step
- 1920 CPI-U: 20.0
- 1970 CPI-U: 38.8 ($194)
- 2020 CPI-U: 258.8
- Formula: $100 × (258.8 / 20.0) = $1,294
What $100 actually bought
Inflation as an abstract number is hard to grasp. Concrete price anchors for 1920 vs 2020 make the change tangible.
In 1920, $100 would have bought:
- ~1.6% of a median US home ($6,300)
- ~17.7% of a new car ($565)
- ~333 gallons of gas (at $0.3/gal)
- ~152 gallons of milk (at $0.66/gal)
- ~5000 first-class postage stamps (at 2¢ each)
- ~6.7% of one year of median household income ($1,495)
Post-WWI boom; Roaring Twenties begin.
Price anchor changes (1920 → 2020)
| Item | 1920 | 2020 | Change | vs CPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median home | $6,300 | $313,000 | +4868% | +3674% |
| New car | $565 | $37,800 | +6590% | +5396% |
| Gallon of gas | $0.30 | $2.17 | +623% | -571% |
| Gallon of milk | $0.66 | $3.54 | +436% | -758% |
| First-class stamp | 2¢ | 55¢ | +2650% | +1456% |
| Median HH income | $1,495 | $67,520 | +4416% | +3222% |
“vs CPI” shows how each category outpaced or trailed general inflation. Categories that beat CPI (homes, healthcare, college) felt more expensive than the headline number suggested. Categories that lagged (electronics, postage adjusted) felt cheaper.
Related
Common questions
- What is $100 in 1920 worth in 2020?
- About $1,294, an increase of 1194.0% over 100 years (roughly 2.59% per year). Calculation uses the BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U, series CUUR0000SA0), annual averages.
- Why does CPI-U sometimes feel lower than my actual cost of living?
- CPI-U is a national average across a fixed basket. Personal inflation can run higher if rent, healthcare or college tuition dominate your spending — those categories have risen faster than the headline index. CPI-U is the official benchmark used for Social Security COLAs and federal tax bracket adjustments.
- What does the CAGR figure mean?
- Compound annual growth rate: the smoothed yearly rate that turns $100 in 1920 into $1,294 in 2020 if inflation were constant. Useful for comparing decades that had very different inflation patterns (e.g., 1970s vs 2010s).
Full data sources and formulas: /sources.