$100 in 1915 is worth $239 in 1950,
because prices increased 138.6% over that period, an average of
2.52% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$239
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
138.6%
Average inflation rate
2.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$239
Price difference ($100 base)
$139
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1915 → 1950
$239
$100 in 1950 → 1915
$41.91
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1950
Between 1915 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 138.6%, which works out to an average of
2.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.42 buys in 1950: the 1915 dollar
lost 58.1% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 1950 at the same ratio, 2.39: $1,000 becomes
$2,386, and $10,000 becomes $23,861.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1950
$1.00
$2.39
$5.00
$11.93
$10.00
$23.86
$20.00
$47.72
$50.00
$119
$100
$239
$500
$1,193
$1,000
$2,386
$5,000
$11,931
$10,000
$23,861
$100,000
$238,614
$1,000,000
$2,386,139
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1950
Between 1915 and 1950, apparel rose the most, up 163.4%, while food rose the least, up 154.0%, against 138.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.52%
$239
Apparel
2.81%
$263
Food
2.70%
$254
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 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$165
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$139
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$239
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $129 by
1933, on its way to $239 in 1950; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1950
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $239; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1950: $100 is worth $239 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1950/