$100 in 1915 is worth $2,376 in 2016,
because prices increased 2276.3% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$2,376
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2276.3%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,376
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,276
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1915 → 2016
$2,376
$100 in 2016 → 1915
$4.21
What happened to prices between 1915 and 2016
Between 1915 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2276.3%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.04 buys in 2016: the 1915 dollar
lost 95.8% of its purchasing power over
these 101 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 2016 at the same ratio, 23.76: $1,000 becomes
$23,763, and $10,000 becomes $237,631.
Amount in 1915
Value in 2016
$1.00
$23.76
$5.00
$119
$10.00
$238
$20.00
$475
$50.00
$1,188
$100
$2,376
$500
$11,882
$1,000
$23,763
$5,000
$118,815
$10,000
$237,631
$100,000
$2,376,307
$1,000,000
$23,763,069
Inflation by spending category, 1915–2016
Between 1915 and 2016, food rose the most, up 2379.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 723.8%, against 2276.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$2,376
Food
3.23%
$2,479
Apparel
2.11%
$824
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 2016
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 1915–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$2,376
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $312 by
1965, on its way to $2,376 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $2,376; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 2016: $100 is worth $2,376 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-2016/