$100 in 1917 is worth $131 in 1922,
because prices increased 31.3% over that period, an average of
5.59% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$131
in 1922
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
31.3%
Average inflation rate
5.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$131
Price difference ($100 base)
$31.25
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1922
16.8
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
$100 in 1917 → 1922
$131
$100 in 1922 → 1917
$76.19
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1922
Between 1917 and 1922, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 16.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 31.3%, which works out to an average of
5.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.76 buys in 1922: the 1917 dollar
lost 23.8% of its purchasing power over
these 5 years.
1917 is when World War I inflation stopped being a background trend and
became the dominant fact of American economic life. Consumer prices rose
17.4% for the year, more than double the previous year’s already sharp
increase, as the country’s April 6 entry into the war layered federal war
spending on top of an economy already strained by military demand and
worker shortages. Congress paid for the war with the War Revenue Act that
October, which sharply raised income taxes, created a new tax on wartime
business profits, and, in a small but very visible change for ordinary
households, raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 2 cents to 3 cents
that November, the rate’s first move since 1885. Herbert Hoover took over
the new Food Administration in August and asked Americans to conserve food
voluntarily rather than face formal rationing, a campaign that became
famous enough that “Hooverize” entered the language as a verb for cutting
back. None of it slowed prices much: the 17.4% increase would be topped
again the very next year, in 1918.
Every 1917 amount converts to 1922 at the same ratio, 1.31: $1,000 becomes
$1,313, and $10,000 becomes $13,125.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1922
$1.00
$1.31
$5.00
$6.56
$10.00
$13.13
$20.00
$26.25
$50.00
$65.63
$100
$131
$500
$656
$1,000
$1,313
$5,000
$6,563
$10,000
$13,125
$100,000
$131,250
$1,000,000
$1,312,500
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1922
Between 1917 and 1922, apparel rose the most, up 33.7%, while food rose the least, up 2.8%, against 31.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1922, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.59%
$131
Apparel
5.97%
$134
Food
0.55%
$103
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1917: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1917 to 1922
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1920s (8.3% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1922 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1917, at end
1917–1920
16.04%
56.3%
$156
1920–1922
-8.35%
-16.0%
$131
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $135 by
1919, on its way to $131 in 1922; 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.
In 1922, prices fell 6.1% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $131; the year's average CPI of 16.8 is the level
behind every 1922 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1922: $100 is worth $131 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1922/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1922. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1922/