$100 in 1915 is worth $2,344 in 2014,
because prices increased 2243.9% over that period, an average of
3.24% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$2,344
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2243.9%
Average inflation rate
3.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,344
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,244
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1915 → 2014
$2,344
$100 in 2014 → 1915
$4.27
What happened to prices between 1915 and 2014
Between 1915 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2243.9%, which works out to an average of
3.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.04 buys in 2014: the 1915 dollar
lost 95.7% of its purchasing power over
these 99 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 2014 at the same ratio, 23.44: $1,000 becomes
$23,439, and $10,000 becomes $234,392.
Amount in 1915
Value in 2014
$1.00
$23.44
$5.00
$117
$10.00
$234
$20.00
$469
$50.00
$1,172
$100
$2,344
$500
$11,720
$1,000
$23,439
$5,000
$117,196
$10,000
$234,392
$100,000
$2,343,921
$1,000,000
$23,439,208
Inflation by spending category, 1915–2014
Between 1915 and 2014, food rose the most, up 2327.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 733.4%, against 2243.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.24%
$2,344
Food
3.27%
$2,427
Apparel
2.16%
$833
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 2014
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 1915–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$2,344
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $312 by
1965, on its way to $2,344 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $2,344; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 2014: $100 is worth $2,344 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2014/