$100 in 1914 is worth $2,330 in 2013,
because prices increased 2229.6% over that period, an average of
3.23% a year.
$100 in 1914 has
the same buying power as
$2,330
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2229.6%
Average inflation rate
3.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,330
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,230
CPI in 1914
10
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1914
1.01%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1914 → 2013
$2,330
$100 in 2013 → 1914
$4.29
What happened to prices between 1914 and 2013
Between 1914 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 10 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2229.6%, which works out to an average of
3.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1914 bought what
$0.04 buys in 2013: the 1914 dollar
lost 95.7% of its purchasing power over
these 99 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 2013 at the same ratio, 23.30: $1,000 becomes
$23,296, and $10,000 becomes $232,957.
Amount in 1914
Value in 2013
$1.00
$23.30
$5.00
$116
$10.00
$233
$20.00
$466
$50.00
$1,165
$100
$2,330
$500
$11,648
$1,000
$23,296
$5,000
$116,479
$10,000
$232,957
$100,000
$2,329,570
$1,000,000
$23,295,700
Inflation by spending category, 1914–2013
Between 1914 and 2013, food rose the most, up 2223.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 749.4%, against 2229.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1914
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1914 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.23%
$2,330
Food
3.23%
$2,324
Apparel
2.18%
$849
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 2013
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 1914–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$2,181
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$2,330
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1914
$100 from 1914 had already become $310 by
1964, on its way to $2,330 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1914 had the buying
power of $2,330; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1914 to 2013: $100 is worth $2,330 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1914 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-2013/