$100 in 1917 is worth $136 in 1927,
because prices increased 35.9% over that period, an average of
3.12% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$136
in 1927
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
35.9%
Average inflation rate
3.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$136
Price difference ($100 base)
$35.94
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1927
17.4
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
$100 in 1917 → 1927
$136
$100 in 1927 → 1917
$73.56
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1927
Between 1917 and 1927, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 17.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 35.9%, which works out to an average of
3.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1927: the 1917 dollar
lost 26.4% of its purchasing power over
these 10 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 1927 at the same ratio, 1.36: $1,000 becomes
$1,359, and $10,000 becomes $13,594.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1927
$1.00
$1.36
$5.00
$6.80
$10.00
$13.59
$20.00
$27.19
$50.00
$67.97
$100
$136
$500
$680
$1,000
$1,359
$5,000
$6,797
$10,000
$13,594
$100,000
$135,937
$1,000,000
$1,359,375
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1927
Between 1917 and 1927, apparel rose the most, up 25.2%, while food rose the least, up 13.1%, against 35.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1927, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.12%
$136
Apparel
2.28%
$125
Food
1.24%
$113
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 1927
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1920s (2.0% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1927 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1917, at end
1917–1920
16.04%
56.3%
$156
1920–1927
-1.97%
-13.0%
$136
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $131 by
1922, on its way to $136 in 1927; 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 1927, prices fell 1.7% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $136; the year's average CPI of 17.4 is the level
behind every 1927 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1927, a mild retreat after three years of
gradual increases and part of a shallow up-and-down pattern that ran through
the second half of the decade. Aviation delivered the year’s signature
moment: Charles Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field, New York, on May 20 and
landed at Le Bourget Field outside Paris roughly 33.5 hours later, the first
person to fly the Atlantic solo and nonstop. Detroit closed a chapter of its
own that May, when Ford halted the Model T’s production line after nearly 19
years and more than 15 million cars sold, idling tens of thousands of
workers while its factories retooled for the Model A. The Federal Reserve,
meeting with European central bankers that summer, cut its discount rate to
ease pressure on currencies still recovering from the war, a move later
cited by economists including Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz as fuel for
the stock market speculation that built through the following two years.
First-class postage held at 2 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1927: $100 is worth $136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1927/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1927. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1927/