$100 in 1916 is worth $239 in 1951,
because prices increased 138.5% over that period, an average of
2.51% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$239
in 1951
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
138.5%
Average inflation rate
2.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$239
Price difference ($100 base)
$139
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1951
26
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
$100 in 1916 → 1951
$239
$100 in 1951 → 1916
$41.92
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1951
Between 1916 and 1951, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 26.
Cumulatively, prices increased 138.5%, which works out to an average of
2.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.42 buys in 1951: the 1916 dollar
lost 58.1% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 1951 at the same ratio, 2.39: $1,000 becomes
$2,385, and $10,000 becomes $23,853.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1951
$1.00
$2.39
$5.00
$11.93
$10.00
$23.85
$20.00
$47.71
$50.00
$119
$100
$239
$500
$1,193
$1,000
$2,385
$5,000
$11,927
$10,000
$23,853
$100,000
$238,532
$1,000,000
$2,385,321
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1951
Between 1916 and 1951, apparel rose the most, up 161.3%, while food rose the least, up 149.6%, against 138.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1951, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.51%
$239
Apparel
2.78%
$261
Food
2.65%
$250
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 1951
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 1916–1951 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
1950–1951
7.88%
7.9%
$239
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $123 by
1934, on its way to $239 in 1951; 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: 1951
In 1951, prices rose 7.9% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $239; the year's average CPI of 26 is the level
behind every 1951 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 1951: $100 is worth $239 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1951/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1951. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1951/