$100 in 1917 is worth $127 in 1942,
because prices increased 27.3% over that period, an average of
0.97% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$127
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
27.3%
Average inflation rate
0.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$127
Price difference ($100 base)
$27.34
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1917 → 1942
$127
$100 in 1942 → 1917
$78.53
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1942
Between 1917 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 27.3%, which works out to an average of
0.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.79 buys in 1942: the 1917 dollar
lost 21.5% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1942 at the same ratio, 1.27: $1,000 becomes
$1,273, and $10,000 becomes $12,734.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1942
$1.00
$1.27
$5.00
$6.37
$10.00
$12.73
$20.00
$25.47
$50.00
$63.67
$100
$127
$500
$637
$1,000
$1,273
$5,000
$6,367
$10,000
$12,734
$100,000
$127,344
$1,000,000
$1,273,438
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1942
Between 1917 and 1942, apparel rose the most, up 32.2%, while food rose the least, up 6.2%, against 27.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.97%
$127
Apparel
1.12%
$132
Food
0.24%
$106
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 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1942 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
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$109
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$127
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $134 by
1929, on its way to $127 in 1942; 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 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $127; the year's average CPI of 16.3 is the level
behind every 1942 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 10.9% in 1942, up from 1941’s already
rapid 5.0% and the fastest increase since 1920, as the economy’s crash
conversion to war production collided with shrinking supplies of civilian
goods. The government tried to contain it: the General Maximum Price
Regulation, effective May 18 and known as “General Max,” froze most retail
prices at their highest March level, the broadest price control Washington
had ever attempted. Rationing followed close behind. Sugar rationing began
that May and gasoline rationing went nationwide in December, the leading
edge of a system that would eventually cover meat, coffee, shoes, tires, and
dozens of other goods before the war ended. The year’s other defining
wartime measure had nothing to do with prices. Executive Order 9066, signed
February 19, authorized the military to remove more than 110,000 Japanese
Americans, most of them U.S. citizens, from the West Coast and hold them in
inland internment camps for the war’s duration, one of the era’s starkest
violations of civil liberties. Even with price controls in place, consumer
prices climbed more than 10% for the first time since 1920, leaving the CPI
64.6% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at 3
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1942: $100 is worth $127 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1942/