£5,000 in 1920 is worth £233,317.97 in 2021

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Value of £5,000 from 1920 to 2021

£5,000 in 1920 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £233,317.97 in 2021, an increase of £228,317.97 over 101 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 3.88% per year between 1920 and 2021, producing a cumulative price increase of 4,566.36%.

This means that prices in 2021 are 46.66 times as high as average prices since 1920, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1920 was 15.53%. The inflation rate in 2021 was 2.49%. The 2021 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 6.28% per year between 2021 and 2024.


Inflation from 1920 to 2021
Cumulative price change4,566.36%
Average inflation rate3.88%
Converted amount
£5,000 base
£233,317.97
Price difference
£5,000 base
£228,317.97
CPI in 192025.300
CPI in 20211,180.589
Inflation in 192015.53%
Inflation in 20212.49%
£5,000 in 1920£233,317.97 in 2021

GBP inflation since 1920
Annual Rate, the Office for National Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of £5,000 in 1920

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £5,000 in 1920 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £5,000, you would need to end with £233,317.97 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £5,000 is equivalent to £233,317.97 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single U.K. pound decreases over time. In other words, a pound will pay for fewer items at the store.

This effect explains how inflation erodes the value of a pound over time. By calculating the value in 1920 dollars, the chart below shows how £5,000 is worth less over 101 years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, each of these GBP amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

Pound inflation: 1920-2021
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1920£5,000.0015.53%
1921£4,565.22-8.70%
1922£3,932.81-13.85%
1923£3,695.65-6.03%
1924£3,675.89-0.53%
1925£3,675.890.00%
1926£3,656.13-0.54%
1927£3,557.31-2.70%
1928£3,557.310.00%
1929£3,517.79-1.11%
1930£3,418.97-2.81%
1931£3,280.63-4.05%
1932£3,201.58-2.41%
1933£3,122.53-2.47%
1934£3,122.530.00%
1935£3,142.290.63%
1936£3,162.060.63%
1937£3,280.633.75%
1938£3,320.161.20%
1939£3,418.972.98%
1940£3,992.0916.76%
1941£4,426.8810.89%
1942£4,743.087.14%
1943£4,901.193.33%
1944£5,039.532.82%
1945£5,177.872.75%
1946£5,335.973.05%
1947£5,711.467.04%
1948£6,146.257.61%
1949£6,324.112.89%
1950£6,521.743.13%
1951£7,114.629.09%
1952£7,766.809.17%
1953£8,003.953.05%
1954£8,162.061.98%
1955£8,517.794.36%
1956£8,952.575.10%
1957£9,268.773.53%
1958£9,565.223.20%
1959£9,604.740.41%
1960£9,703.561.03%
1961£10,039.533.46%
1962£10,474.314.33%
1963£10,671.941.89%
1964£11,027.673.33%
1965£11,541.504.66%
1966£11,996.053.94%
1967£12,312.252.64%
1968£12,885.384.65%
1969£13,577.085.37%
1970£14,446.646.40%
1971£15,810.289.44%
1972£16,936.767.13%
1973£18,478.269.10%
1974£21,442.6916.04%
1975£26,640.3224.24%
1976£31,047.4316.54%
1977£35,968.3815.85%
1978£38,952.578.30%
1979£44,169.9613.39%
1980£52,114.6217.99%
1981£58,300.4011.87%
1982£63,320.168.61%
1983£66,225.304.59%
1984£69,525.694.98%
1985£73,754.946.08%
1986£76,264.823.40%
1987£79,446.644.17%
1988£83,339.924.90%
1989£89,822.137.78%
1990£98,320.169.46%
1991£104,090.915.87%
1992£107,984.193.74%
1993£109,703.561.59%
1994£112,351.782.41%
1995£116,245.063.47%
1996£119,051.382.41%
1997£122,786.563.14%
1998£126,996.053.43%
1999£128,952.571.54%
2000£132,766.802.96%
2001£135,118.581.77%
2002£137,371.541.67%
2003£141,343.872.89%
2004£145,553.362.98%
2005£149,664.032.82%
2006£154,446.643.20%
2007£161,067.194.29%
2008£167,490.123.99%
2009£166,600.79-0.53%
2010£174,288.544.61%
2011£183,359.685.20%
2012£189,249.013.21%
2013£195,000.003.04%
2014£199,604.742.36%
2015£201,581.030.99%
2016£205,079.051.74%
2017£212,430.833.58%
2018£218,166.462.70%
2019£223,620.622.50%
2020£227,645.801.80%
2021£233,317.972.49%
2022£251,750.097.90%
2023£269,553.867.07%
2024£280,066.463.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 95 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1920 amounts in 2021 pounds, based on the 4,566.36% change in prices:

Conversion: 1920 pounds in 2021
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1920£46.66 pounds in 2021
£5 pounds in 1920£233.32 pounds in 2021
£10 pounds in 1920£466.64 pounds in 2021
£50 pounds in 1920£2,333.18 pounds in 2021
£100 pounds in 1920£4,666.36 pounds in 2021
£500 pounds in 1920£23,331.80 pounds in 2021
£1,000 pounds in 1920£46,663.59 pounds in 2021
£5,000 pounds in 1920£233,317.97 pounds in 2021
£10,000 pounds in 1920£466,635.94 pounds in 2021
£50,000 pounds in 1920£2,333,179.70 pounds in 2021
£100,000 pounds in 1920£4,666,359.39 pounds in 2021
£500,000 pounds in 1920£23,331,796.96 pounds in 2021
£1,000,000 pounds in 1920£46,663,593.93 pounds in 2021

How to calculate inflation rate for £5,000, 1920 to 2021

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1920 and 2021:

CPI in 2021 CPI in 1920
×
1920 GBP value
=
2021 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 25.3 in the year 1920 and 1180.5889263884287 in 2021:

1180.588926388428725.3
×
£5,000
=
£233,317.97

£5,000 in 1920 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £233,317.97 in 2021.

To get the total inflation rate for the 101 years between 1920 and 2021, we use the following formula:

CPI in 2021 - CPI in 1920CPI in 1920
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (101 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

1180.5889263884287 - 25.325.3
×
100
=
4,566%

Data source & citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the composite price index published by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS). A composite index is created by combining price data from several different published sources, both official and unofficial. The Consumer Price Index, normally used to compute inflation, has only been tracked since 1988. All inflation calculations after 1988 use the Office for National Statistics' Consumer Price Index, except for the current year, which is based on The Bank of England's forecast.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page: “£5,000 in 1920 → 2021 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 28 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1920?amount=5000&endYear=2021.

Special thanks to QuickChart for their chart image API, which is used for chart downloads.

in2013dollars.com is a reference website maintained by the Official Data Foundation.


Ian Webster

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

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» Read more about inflation and investment.

Inflation from 1920 to 2021
Cumulative price change4,566.36%
Average inflation rate3.88%
Converted amount
£5,000 base
£233,317.97
Price difference
£5,000 base
£228,317.97
CPI in 192025.300
CPI in 20211,180.589
Inflation in 192015.53%
Inflation in 20212.49%
£5,000 in 1920£233,317.97 in 2021