$100 in 1915 is worth $1,389 in 1992,
because prices increased 1289.1% over that period, an average of
3.48% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$1,389
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1289.1%
Average inflation rate
3.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,389
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,289
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1915 → 1992
$1,389
$100 in 1992 → 1915
$7.20
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1992
Between 1915 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1289.1%, which works out to an average of
3.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.07 buys in 1992: the 1915 dollar
lost 92.8% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 1992 at the same ratio, 13.89: $1,000 becomes
$13,891, and $10,000 becomes $138,911.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1992
$1.00
$13.89
$5.00
$69.46
$10.00
$139
$20.00
$278
$50.00
$695
$100
$1,389
$500
$6,946
$1,000
$13,891
$5,000
$69,455
$10,000
$138,911
$100,000
$1,389,109
$1,000,000
$13,891,089
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1992
Between 1915 and 1992, food rose the most, up 1279.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 762.1%, against 1289.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.48%
$1,389
Food
3.47%
$1,379
Apparel
2.84%
$862
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 1992
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 1915–1992 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$816
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$1,294
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$1,389
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $265 by
1955, on its way to $1,389 in 1992; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $1,389; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1992: $100 is worth $1,389 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1992/