$100 in 1917 is worth $210 in 1954,
because prices increased 110.2% over that period, an average of
2.03% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$210
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
110.2%
Average inflation rate
2.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$210
Price difference ($100 base)
$110
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1917 → 1954
$210
$100 in 1954 → 1917
$47.58
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1954
Between 1917 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 110.2%, which works out to an average of
2.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1954: the 1917 dollar
lost 52.4% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 1954 at the same ratio, 2.10: $1,000 becomes
$2,102, and $10,000 becomes $21,016.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1954
$1.00
$2.10
$5.00
$10.51
$10.00
$21.02
$20.00
$42.03
$50.00
$105
$100
$210
$500
$1,051
$1,000
$2,102
$5,000
$10,508
$10,000
$21,016
$100,000
$210,156
$1,000,000
$2,101,562
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1954
Between 1917 and 1954, apparel rose the most, up 113.4%, while food rose the least, up 94.5%, against 110.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.03%
$210
Apparel
2.07%
$213
Food
1.81%
$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 1954
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 1917–1954 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
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$210
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $107 by
1935, on its way to $210 in 1954; 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: 1954
In 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $210; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1954: $100 is worth $210 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1954/