$100 in 1916 is worth $221 in 1950,
because prices increased 121.1% over that period, an average of
2.36% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$221
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
121.1%
Average inflation rate
2.36% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$221
Price difference ($100 base)
$121
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1916 → 1950
$221
$100 in 1950 → 1916
$45.23
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1950
Between 1916 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 121.1%, which works out to an average of
2.36% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.45 buys in 1950: the 1916 dollar
lost 54.8% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 1950 at the same ratio, 2.21: $1,000 becomes
$2,211, and $10,000 becomes $22,110.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1950
$1.00
$2.21
$5.00
$11.06
$10.00
$22.11
$20.00
$44.22
$50.00
$111
$100
$221
$500
$1,106
$1,000
$2,211
$5,000
$11,055
$10,000
$22,110
$100,000
$221,101
$1,000,000
$2,211,009
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1950
Between 1916 and 1950, apparel rose the most, up 139.9%, while food rose the least, up 124.8%, against 121.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.36%
$221
Apparel
2.61%
$240
Food
2.41%
$225
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 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$153
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$128
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$221
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $126 by
1932, on its way to $221 in 1950; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1950
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $221; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 1950: $100 is worth $221 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1950/