$100 in 1915 is worth $266 in 1954,
because prices increased 166.3% over that period, an average of
2.54% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$266
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
166.3%
Average inflation rate
2.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$266
Price difference ($100 base)
$166
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1915 → 1954
$266
$100 in 1954 → 1915
$37.55
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1954
Between 1915 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 166.3%, which works out to an average of
2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.38 buys in 1954: the 1915 dollar
lost 62.5% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1954 at the same ratio, 2.66: $1,000 becomes
$2,663, and $10,000 becomes $26,634.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1954
$1.00
$2.66
$5.00
$13.32
$10.00
$26.63
$20.00
$53.27
$50.00
$133
$100
$266
$500
$1,332
$1,000
$2,663
$5,000
$13,317
$10,000
$26,634
$100,000
$266,337
$1,000,000
$2,663,366
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1954
Between 1915 and 1954, food rose the most, up 182.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 181.7%, against 166.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.54%
$266
Food
2.69%
$282
Apparel
2.69%
$282
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 1954
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 1915–1954 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
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$266
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $136 by
1935, on its way to $266 in 1954; 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: 1954
In 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $266; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1954: $100 is worth $266 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1954/