How much would $20 in 1912 be worth today in the U.S.?

Question

Just curious. I was watching the movie Titanic where Cal gives Jack a 20 dollar bill for saving Rose's life. How much would 20 be worth today?

Answer 1

What the asker is really asking is, what was the value of money then, as in, how much could you buy with $20 then as opposed to now.



The change in the value of money is called inflation, basically meaning that more money buys less. For instance, a car in 1920 ran well under $1000, unthinkably cheap now. That was balanced against the fact that wages were much lower, of course.



But to answer your question. Since the federal reserve was established and the USA adopted a fiat currency (one not tied to the price of gold), the dollar has devalued. One dollar today is worth about 4 cents of a dollar in 1912, in terms of how much you can buy with it.



So by that method, 20 dollars in 1912 would be like someone giving you 500 dollars today.

Answer 2

$400 it's about 20 times



4 cents sounds about right thats $500 and that's what i originally figured

Answer 3

Panj

Answer 4

Unless it was part of a collection, probably just $20