$100 in 1916 is worth $2,137 in 2013,
because prices increased 2037.2% over that period, an average of
3.21% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$2,137
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2037.2%
Average inflation rate
3.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,137
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,037
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1916 → 2013
$2,137
$100 in 2013 → 1916
$4.68
What happened to prices between 1916 and 2013
Between 1916 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2037.2%, which works out to an average of
3.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2013: the 1916 dollar
lost 95.3% of its purchasing power over
these 97 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 2013 at the same ratio, 21.37: $1,000 becomes
$21,372, and $10,000 becomes $213,722.
Amount in 1916
Value in 2013
$1.00
$21.37
$5.00
$107
$10.00
$214
$20.00
$427
$50.00
$1,069
$100
$2,137
$500
$10,686
$1,000
$21,372
$5,000
$106,861
$10,000
$213,722
$100,000
$2,137,220
$1,000,000
$21,372,202
Inflation by spending category, 1916–2013
Between 1916 and 2013, food rose the most, up 1997.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 658.4%, against 2037.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.21%
$2,137
Food
3.19%
$2,098
Apparel
2.11%
$758
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 2013
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 1916–2013 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$756
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$1,199
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,580
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$2,001
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$2,137
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $297 by
1966, on its way to $2,137 in 2013; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $2,137; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 2013: $100 is worth $2,137 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-2013/