$100 in 1915 is worth $2,132 in 2008,
because prices increased 2031.7% over that period, an average of
3.34% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$2,132
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2031.7%
Average inflation rate
3.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,132
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,032
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1915 → 2008
$2,132
$100 in 2008 → 1915
$4.69
What happened to prices between 1915 and 2008
Between 1915 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2031.7%, which works out to an average of
3.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2008: the 1915 dollar
lost 95.3% of its purchasing power over
these 93 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 2008 at the same ratio, 21.32: $1,000 becomes
$21,317, and $10,000 becomes $213,171.
Amount in 1915
Value in 2008
$1.00
$21.32
$5.00
$107
$10.00
$213
$20.00
$426
$50.00
$1,066
$100
$2,132
$500
$10,659
$1,000
$21,317
$5,000
$106,586
$10,000
$213,171
$100,000
$2,131,713
$1,000,000
$21,317,129
Inflation by spending category, 1915–2008
Between 1915 and 2008, food rose the most, up 2041.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 677.2%, against 2031.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.34%
$2,132
Food
3.35%
$2,141
Apparel
2.23%
$777
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 2008
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 1915–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$2,132
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $293 by
1960, on its way to $2,132 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $2,132; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 2008: $100 is worth $2,132 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2008/