$100 in 1915 is worth $2,159 in 2010,
because prices increased 2059.0% over that period, an average of
3.29% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$2,159
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2059.0%
Average inflation rate
3.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,159
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,059
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1915 → 2010
$2,159
$100 in 2010 → 1915
$4.63
What happened to prices between 1915 and 2010
Between 1915 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2059.0%, which works out to an average of
3.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2010: the 1915 dollar
lost 95.4% of its purchasing power over
these 95 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 2010 at the same ratio, 21.59: $1,000 becomes
$21,590, and $10,000 becomes $215,897.
Amount in 1915
Value in 2010
$1.00
$21.59
$5.00
$108
$10.00
$216
$20.00
$432
$50.00
$1,079
$100
$2,159
$500
$10,795
$1,000
$21,590
$5,000
$107,949
$10,000
$215,897
$100,000
$2,158,970
$1,000,000
$21,589,703
Inflation by spending category, 1915–2010
Between 1915 and 2010, food rose the most, up 2096.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 681.1%, against 2059.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.29%
$2,159
Food
3.31%
$2,196
Apparel
2.19%
$781
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 2010
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 1915–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$2,159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $293 by
1960, on its way to $2,159 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $2,159; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 2010: $100 is worth $2,159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2010/