$100 in 1917 is worth $107 in 1935,
because prices increased 7.0% over that period, an average of
0.38% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$107
in 1935
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
7.0%
Average inflation rate
0.38% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$107
Price difference ($100 base)
$7.03
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1935
13.7
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
$100 in 1917 → 1935
$107
$100 in 1935 → 1917
$93.43
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1935
Between 1917 and 1935, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 7.0%, which works out to an average of
0.38% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.93 buys in 1935: the 1917 dollar
lost 6.6% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1935 at the same ratio, 1.07: $1,000 becomes
$1,070, and $10,000 becomes $10,703.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1935
$1.00
$1.07
$5.00
$5.35
$10.00
$10.70
$20.00
$21.41
$50.00
$53.52
$100
$107
$500
$535
$1,000
$1,070
$5,000
$5,352
$10,000
$10,703
$100,000
$107,031
$1,000,000
$1,070,312
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1935
Between 1917 and 1935, apparel rose the most, up 3.0%, while food fell 14.5%, against 7.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1935, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.38%
$107
Apparel
0.16%
$103
Food
-0.87%
$85.52
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 1935
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1930s (3.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1935 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1917, at end
1917–1920
16.04%
56.3%
$156
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$130
1930–1935
-3.88%
-18.0%
$107
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $138 by
1926, on its way to $107 in 1935; 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 1935, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $107; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1935 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1935: $100 is worth $107 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1935/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1935. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1935/