$100 in 1915 is worth $177 in 1921,
because prices increased 77.2% over that period, an average of
10.01% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$177
in 1921
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
77.2%
Average inflation rate
10.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$177
Price difference ($100 base)
$77.23
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1921
17.9
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
$100 in 1915 → 1921
$177
$100 in 1921 → 1915
$56.42
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1921
Between 1915 and 1921, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 17.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 77.2%, which works out to an average of
10.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.56 buys in 1921: the 1915 dollar
lost 43.6% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1915, the second straight year of near-flat
inflation before the wartime price surges of 1916 through 1918. The year’s
defining event had nothing to do with prices directly: a German submarine
sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast on May 7, killing 128
Americans and hardening U.S. opinion against Germany two years before the
country entered the war. Economically, 1915 was a turning point of a
different kind. A recession that had dragged on since 1913 began lifting as
Britain and France placed growing orders for steel, munitions, and other war
materiel with American manufacturers, and U.S. exports to the Allied powers
climbed sharply through the year. That demand would keep building through
1916, eventually pulling prices up with it. On the regulatory
side, the Federal Trade Commission opened for business in March, taking on
enforcement of the Clayton Antitrust Act that Congress had passed the
previous fall. A first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, unchanged since 1885
and still two years from its first wartime increase.
Every 1915 amount converts to 1921 at the same ratio, 1.77: $1,000 becomes
$1,772, and $10,000 becomes $17,723.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1921
$1.00
$1.77
$5.00
$8.86
$10.00
$17.72
$20.00
$35.45
$50.00
$88.61
$100
$177
$500
$886
$1,000
$1,772
$5,000
$8,861
$10,000
$17,723
$100,000
$177,228
$1,000,000
$1,772,277
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1921
Between 1915 and 1921, apparel rose the most, up 117.0%, while food rose the least, up 59.0%, against 77.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1921, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
10.01%
$177
Apparel
13.78%
$217
Food
8.04%
$159
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1915: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1915 to 1921
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1920s (10.5% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1921 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1921
-10.50%
-10.5%
$177
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $150 by
1918, on its way to $177 in 1921; 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.
In 1921, prices fell 10.5% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $177; the year's average CPI of 17.9 is the level
behind every 1921 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1921: $100 is worth $177 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1921/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1921. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1921/