$100 in 1916 is worth $164 in 1921,
because prices increased 64.2% over that period, an average of
10.43% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$164
in 1921
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
64.2%
Average inflation rate
10.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$164
Price difference ($100 base)
$64.22
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1921
17.9
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
$100 in 1916 → 1921
$164
$100 in 1921 → 1916
$60.89
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1921
Between 1916 and 1921, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 17.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 64.2%, which works out to an average of
10.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.61 buys in 1921: the 1916 dollar
lost 39.1% of its purchasing power over
these 5 years.
1916 was when World War I first showed up clearly in American price tags.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% for the year, easily the sharpest increase since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI history begins in 1913, as factories ran
flat out to fill steel, munitions, and food orders from Britain and France.
Railroad workers felt the squeeze from rising living costs enough to threaten
a nationwide strike; Congress headed it off in September with the Adamson
Act, which set an eight-hour standard workday for interstate rail employees,
the first federal law of its kind covering private-sector hours. Washington
was also preparing more directly for war: the National Defense Act, signed
in June, expanded the Army and National Guard and funded new
government-owned munitions plants, adding another source of demand to an
economy already running hot. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in November
largely on having kept the country out of the fighting so far, a promise
that would not survive the following spring. A first-class stamp still cost
2 cents, one of the few prices that had not yet moved.
Every 1916 amount converts to 1921 at the same ratio, 1.64: $1,000 becomes
$1,642, and $10,000 becomes $16,422.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1921
$1.00
$1.64
$5.00
$8.21
$10.00
$16.42
$20.00
$32.84
$50.00
$82.11
$100
$164
$500
$821
$1,000
$1,642
$5,000
$8,211
$10,000
$16,422
$100,000
$164,220
$1,000,000
$1,642,202
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1921
Between 1916 and 1921, apparel rose the most, up 97.6%, while food rose the least, up 40.7%, against 64.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1921, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
10.43%
$164
Apparel
14.60%
$198
Food
7.07%
$141
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1916: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1916 to 1921
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1920s (10.5% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1921 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1921
-10.50%
-10.5%
$164
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $139 by
1918, on its way to $164 in 1921; 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.
In 1921, prices fell 10.5% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $164; the year's average CPI of 17.9 is the level
behind every 1921 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 1921: $100 is worth $164 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1921/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1921. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1921/