$100 in 1915 is worth $2,053 in 2007,
because prices increased 1952.9% over that period, an average of
3.34% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$2,053
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1952.9%
Average inflation rate
3.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,053
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,953
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1915 → 2007
$2,053
$100 in 2007 → 1915
$4.87
What happened to prices between 1915 and 2007
Between 1915 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1952.9%, which works out to an average of
3.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2007: the 1915 dollar
lost 95.1% of its purchasing power over
these 92 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 2007 at the same ratio, 20.53: $1,000 becomes
$20,529, and $10,000 becomes $205,289.
Amount in 1915
Value in 2007
$1.00
$20.53
$5.00
$103
$10.00
$205
$20.00
$411
$50.00
$1,026
$100
$2,053
$500
$10,264
$1,000
$20,529
$5,000
$102,645
$10,000
$205,289
$100,000
$2,052,891
$1,000,000
$20,528,911
Inflation by spending category, 1915–2007
Between 1915 and 2007, food rose the most, up 1929.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 677.8%, against 1952.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.34%
$2,053
Food
3.33%
$2,029
Apparel
2.25%
$778
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 2007
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 1915–2007 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,705
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$2,053
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $293 by
1960, on its way to $2,053 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $2,053; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 2007: $100 is worth $2,053 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2007/