$100 in 1917 is worth $203 in 1951,
because prices increased 103.1% over that period, an average of
2.11% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$203
in 1951
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
103.1%
Average inflation rate
2.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$203
Price difference ($100 base)
$103
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1951
26
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
$100 in 1917 → 1951
$203
$100 in 1951 → 1917
$49.23
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1951
Between 1917 and 1951, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 26.
Cumulatively, prices increased 103.1%, which works out to an average of
2.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.49 buys in 1951: the 1917 dollar
lost 50.8% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 1951 at the same ratio, 2.03: $1,000 becomes
$2,031, and $10,000 becomes $20,313.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1951
$1.00
$2.03
$5.00
$10.16
$10.00
$20.31
$20.00
$40.63
$50.00
$102
$100
$203
$500
$1,016
$1,000
$2,031
$5,000
$10,156
$10,000
$20,313
$100,000
$203,125
$1,000,000
$2,031,250
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1951
Between 1917 and 1951, apparel rose the most, up 117.3%, while food rose the least, up 94.5%, against 103.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1951, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.11%
$203
Apparel
2.31%
$217
Food
1.98%
$194
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 1951
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 1917–1951 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
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$188
1950–1951
7.88%
7.9%
$203
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $102 by
1933, on its way to $203 in 1951; 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: 1951
In 1951, prices rose 7.9% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $203; the year's average CPI of 26 is the level
behind every 1951 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1951: $100 is worth $203 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1951/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1951. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1951/