$100 in 1917 is worth $134 in 1924,
because prices increased 33.6% over that period, an average of
4.22% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$134
in 1924
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
33.6%
Average inflation rate
4.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$134
Price difference ($100 base)
$33.59
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1924
17.1
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
$100 in 1917 → 1924
$134
$100 in 1924 → 1917
$74.85
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1924
Between 1917 and 1924, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 17.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 33.6%, which works out to an average of
4.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.75 buys in 1924: the 1917 dollar
lost 25.1% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1924 at the same ratio, 1.34: $1,000 becomes
$1,336, and $10,000 becomes $13,359.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1924
$1.00
$1.34
$5.00
$6.68
$10.00
$13.36
$20.00
$26.72
$50.00
$66.80
$100
$134
$500
$668
$1,000
$1,336
$5,000
$6,680
$10,000
$13,359
$100,000
$133,594
$1,000,000
$1,335,938
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1924
Between 1917 and 1924, apparel rose the most, up 32.7%, while food rose the least, up 4.8%, against 33.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1924, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.22%
$134
Apparel
4.12%
$133
Food
0.68%
$105
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 1924
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1920s (3.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1924 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1917, at end
1917–1920
16.04%
56.3%
$156
1920–1924
-3.84%
-14.5%
$134
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $156 by
1920, on its way to $134 in 1924; 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 1924, prices rose 0.0% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $134; the year's average CPI of 17.1 is the level
behind every 1924 figure on this page.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1924: $100 is worth $134 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1924/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1924. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1924/