$100 in 1914 is worth $2,153 in 2008,
because prices increased 2053.0% over that period, an average of
3.32% a year.
$100 in 1914 has
the same buying power as
$2,153
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2053.0%
Average inflation rate
3.32% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,153
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,053
CPI in 1914
10
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1914
1.01%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1914 → 2008
$2,153
$100 in 2008 → 1914
$4.64
What happened to prices between 1914 and 2008
Between 1914 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 10 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2053.0%, which works out to an average of
3.32% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1914 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2008: the 1914 dollar
lost 95.4% of its purchasing power over
these 94 years.
Consumer prices barely moved in 1914, rising just 1.0% for the year, even as
the country’s financial plumbing was rebuilt from the ground up. The Federal
Reserve Banks, created by the Federal Reserve Act signed the previous
December, opened their doors on November 16, giving the U.S. a central bank
for the first time since the 1830s. Weeks earlier, the outbreak of war in
Europe had spooked the New York Stock Exchange into closing for more than
four months, the longest shutdown in its history, as officials worried
European investors would dump American securities for gold. Domestically, the
bigger story was labor: Henry Ford’s decision to pay factory workers $5 a
day, announced in January, roughly doubled wages on his assembly lines and
pushed other manufacturers to raise pay just to keep workers from leaving. A
first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, a price that had held since 1885 and
would keep holding for three more years, even as the war reshaping Europe
began pulling the American economy toward the sustained wartime inflation of
1917.
Every 1914 amount converts to 2008 at the same ratio, 21.53: $1,000 becomes
$21,530, and $10,000 becomes $215,303.
Amount in 1914
Value in 2008
$1.00
$21.53
$5.00
$108
$10.00
$215
$20.00
$431
$50.00
$1,077
$100
$2,153
$500
$10,765
$1,000
$21,530
$5,000
$107,652
$10,000
$215,303
$100,000
$2,153,030
$1,000,000
$21,530,300
Inflation by spending category, 1914–2008
Between 1914 and 2008, food rose the most, up 1999.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 692.7%, against 2053.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1914
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1914 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.32%
$2,153
Food
3.29%
$2,099
Apparel
2.23%
$793
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1914: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1914 to 2008
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 12.25% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1914–2008 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1914, at end
1914–1920
12.25%
100.0%
$200
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$167
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$140
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$241
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$296
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$388
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$824
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$1,307
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,722
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$2,153
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1914
$100 from 1914 had already become $291 by
1959, on its way to $2,153 in 2008; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1914 had the buying
power of $2,153; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1914 to 2008: $100 is worth $2,153 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1914 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-2008/