$100 in 1917 is worth $188 in 1948,
because prices increased 88.3% over that period, an average of
2.06% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$188
in 1948
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
88.3%
Average inflation rate
2.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$188
Price difference ($100 base)
$88.28
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1948
24.1
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
$100 in 1917 → 1948
$188
$100 in 1948 → 1917
$53.11
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1948
Between 1917 and 1948, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 88.3%, which works out to an average of
2.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.53 buys in 1948: the 1917 dollar
lost 46.9% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 1948 at the same ratio, 1.88: $1,000 becomes
$1,883, and $10,000 becomes $18,828.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1948
$1.00
$1.88
$5.00
$9.41
$10.00
$18.83
$20.00
$37.66
$50.00
$94.14
$100
$188
$500
$941
$1,000
$1,883
$5,000
$9,414
$10,000
$18,828
$100,000
$188,281
$1,000,000
$1,882,813
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1948
Between 1917 and 1948, apparel rose the most, up 110.4%, while food rose the least, up 80.0%, against 88.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1948, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.06%
$188
Apparel
2.43%
$210
Food
1.91%
$180
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 1948
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 1917–1948 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
1940–1948
7.03%
72.1%
$188
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $102 by
1933, on its way to $188 in 1948; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1948
In 1948, prices rose 8.1% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $188; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1948 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 8.1% in 1948, down slightly from 1947’s
14.4% but still the second straight year of sharp postwar inflation now
that wartime price controls were fully gone. Congress moved to stabilize a
different economy that April, passing the Economic Cooperation Act to fund
the plan Secretary of State George Marshall had proposed the year before:
more than $13 billion over four years to rebuild Western Europe and counter
Soviet influence. The Cold War turned tense closer to the plan’s target
that June, when Soviet forces cut off road and rail access to the
Western-controlled sectors of Berlin. American and British aircraft
responded almost immediately with an airlift of food, fuel, and supplies
that would keep the city running for nearly a year. Domestic politics
produced its own upset that November: nearly every poll and pundit had
predicted a Republican win, but Harry Truman defeated New York Governor
Thomas Dewey, handing the Chicago Tribune its famously wrong “Dewey Defeats
Truman” headline. Consumer prices finished the year 143.4% above their
1913 level and 40.9% above 1929’s
pre-Depression peak. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 40 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1948: $100 is worth $188 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1948/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1948. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1948/