$100 in 1915 is worth $488 in 1974,
because prices increased 388.1% over that period, an average of
2.72% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$488
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
388.1%
Average inflation rate
2.72% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$488
Price difference ($100 base)
$388
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1915 → 1974
$488
$100 in 1974 → 1915
$20.49
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1974
Between 1915 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 388.1%, which works out to an average of
2.72% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.20 buys in 1974: the 1915 dollar
lost 79.5% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 1974 at the same ratio, 4.88: $1,000 becomes
$4,881, and $10,000 becomes $48,812.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1974
$1.00
$4.88
$5.00
$24.41
$10.00
$48.81
$20.00
$97.62
$50.00
$244
$100
$488
$500
$2,441
$1,000
$4,881
$5,000
$24,406
$10,000
$48,812
$100,000
$488,119
$1,000,000
$4,881,188
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1974
Between 1915 and 1974, food rose the most, up 451.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 353.6%, against 388.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.72%
$488
Food
2.93%
$551
Apparel
2.60%
$454
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 1974
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 1915–1974 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$293
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$384
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$488
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $178 by
1945, on its way to $488 in 1974; 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: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $488; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1974: $100 is worth $488 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1974/