$100 in 1916 is worth $372 in 1971,
because prices increased 271.6% over that period, an average of
2.42% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$372
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
271.6%
Average inflation rate
2.42% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$372
Price difference ($100 base)
$272
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1916 → 1971
$372
$100 in 1971 → 1916
$26.91
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1971
Between 1916 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 271.6%, which works out to an average of
2.42% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1971: the 1916 dollar
lost 73.1% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 1971 at the same ratio, 3.72: $1,000 becomes
$3,716, and $10,000 becomes $37,156.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1971
$1.00
$3.72
$5.00
$18.58
$10.00
$37.16
$20.00
$74.31
$50.00
$186
$100
$372
$500
$1,858
$1,000
$3,716
$5,000
$18,578
$10,000
$37,156
$100,000
$371,560
$1,000,000
$3,715,596
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1971
Between 1916 and 1971, apparel rose the most, up 263.7%, while food rose the least, up 257.5%, against 271.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.42%
$372
Apparel
2.38%
$364
Food
2.34%
$358
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 1971
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 1916–1971 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$272
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$356
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$372
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $161 by
1944, on its way to $372 in 1971; 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: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $372; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 1971: $100 is worth $372 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1971/