$100 in 1916 is worth $247 in 1954,
because prices increased 146.8% over that period, an average of
2.41% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$247
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
146.8%
Average inflation rate
2.41% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$247
Price difference ($100 base)
$147
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1916 → 1954
$247
$100 in 1954 → 1916
$40.52
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1954
Between 1916 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 146.8%, which works out to an average of
2.41% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.41 buys in 1954: the 1916 dollar
lost 59.5% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 1954 at the same ratio, 2.47: $1,000 becomes
$2,468, and $10,000 becomes $24,679.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1954
$1.00
$2.47
$5.00
$12.34
$10.00
$24.68
$20.00
$49.36
$50.00
$123
$100
$247
$500
$1,234
$1,000
$2,468
$5,000
$12,339
$10,000
$24,679
$100,000
$246,789
$1,000,000
$2,467,890
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1954
Between 1916 and 1954, apparel rose the most, up 156.5%, while food rose the least, up 149.6%, against 146.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.41%
$247
Apparel
2.51%
$257
Food
2.44%
$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 1954
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 1916–1954 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
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$247
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $123 by
1934, on its way to $247 in 1954; 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: 1954
In 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $247; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 1954: $100 is worth $247 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1954/