$100 in 1915 is worth $166 in 1922,
because prices increased 66.3% over that period, an average of
7.54% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$166
in 1922
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
66.3%
Average inflation rate
7.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$166
Price difference ($100 base)
$66.34
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1922
16.8
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
$100 in 1915 → 1922
$166
$100 in 1922 → 1915
$60.12
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1922
Between 1915 and 1922, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 16.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 66.3%, which works out to an average of
7.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.60 buys in 1922: the 1915 dollar
lost 39.9% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1922 at the same ratio, 1.66: $1,000 becomes
$1,663, and $10,000 becomes $16,634.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1922
$1.00
$1.66
$5.00
$8.32
$10.00
$16.63
$20.00
$33.27
$50.00
$83.17
$100
$166
$500
$832
$1,000
$1,663
$5,000
$8,317
$10,000
$16,634
$100,000
$166,337
$1,000,000
$1,663,366
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1922
Between 1915 and 1922, apparel rose the most, up 76.5%, while food rose the least, up 49.0%, against 66.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1922, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.54%
$166
Apparel
8.45%
$176
Food
5.86%
$149
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 1922
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1920s (8.3% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1922 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1922
-8.35%
-16.0%
$166
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $150 by
1918, on its way to $166 in 1922; 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 1922, prices fell 6.1% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $166; the year's average CPI of 16.8 is the level
behind every 1922 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1922: $100 is worth $166 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1922/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1922. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1922/