$100 in 1917 is worth $209 in 1953,
because prices increased 108.6% over that period, an average of
2.06% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$209
in 1953
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
108.6%
Average inflation rate
2.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$209
Price difference ($100 base)
$109
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1953
26.7
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
$100 in 1917 → 1953
$209
$100 in 1953 → 1917
$47.94
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1953
Between 1917 and 1953, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 26.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 108.6%, which works out to an average of
2.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1953: the 1917 dollar
lost 52.1% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 1953 at the same ratio, 2.09: $1,000 becomes
$2,086, and $10,000 becomes $20,859.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1953
$1.00
$2.09
$5.00
$10.43
$10.00
$20.86
$20.00
$41.72
$50.00
$104
$100
$209
$500
$1,043
$1,000
$2,086
$5,000
$10,430
$10,000
$20,859
$100,000
$208,594
$1,000,000
$2,085,938
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1953
Between 1917 and 1953, apparel rose the most, up 113.4%, while food rose the least, up 95.2%, against 108.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1953, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.06%
$209
Apparel
2.13%
$213
Food
1.87%
$195
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 1953
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 1917–1953 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
1950–1953
3.47%
10.8%
$209
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $107 by
1935, on its way to $209 in 1953; 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: 1953
In 1953, prices rose 0.8% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $209; the year's average CPI of 26.7 is the level
behind every 1953 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% in 1953, down from 1952’s 1.9% as
fighting in Korea wound toward a truce and three years of wartime buying
pressure finally eased. The year’s biggest shock came from Moscow: Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin died March 5 after nearly three decades in power, the
first change of Soviet leadership since the 1920s, opening a period of
uncertainty over how his successors would deal with the West. Washington
used the calmer backdrop to unwind its own wartime machinery. Authority
for the price and wage controls imposed in 1951 lapsed that spring, as the
Eisenhower administration, which favored free markets over controls, wound
down the Office of Price Stabilization. The war itself ended, on paper,
that July: negotiators signed an armistice July 27 at Panmunjom, halting
the fighting roughly along the original border near the 38th parallel. No
formal peace treaty ever followed, and North and South Korea remain
technically at war. Consumer prices finished 1953 169.7% 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 1953: $100 is worth $209 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1953/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1953. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1953/