$100 in 1917 is worth $227 in 1959,
because prices increased 127.3% over that period, an average of
1.97% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$227
in 1959
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
127.3%
Average inflation rate
1.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$227
Price difference ($100 base)
$127
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1959
29.1
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
$100 in 1917 → 1959
$227
$100 in 1959 → 1917
$43.99
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1959
Between 1917 and 1959, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 29.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 127.3%, which works out to an average of
1.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1959: the 1917 dollar
lost 56.0% of its purchasing power over
these 42 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 1959 at the same ratio, 2.27: $1,000 becomes
$2,273, and $10,000 becomes $22,734.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1959
$1.00
$2.27
$5.00
$11.37
$10.00
$22.73
$20.00
$45.47
$50.00
$114
$100
$227
$500
$1,137
$1,000
$2,273
$5,000
$11,367
$10,000
$22,734
$100,000
$227,344
$1,000,000
$2,273,438
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1959
Between 1917 and 1959, apparel rose the most, up 122.8%, while food rose the least, up 104.8%, against 127.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1959, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.97%
$227
Apparel
1.93%
$223
Food
1.72%
$205
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 1959
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 1917–1959 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
1950–1959
2.12%
20.7%
$227
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $113 by
1937, on its way to $227 in 1959; 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: 1959
In 1959, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $227; the year's average CPI of 29.1 is the level
behind every 1959 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1959, down sharply from 1958’s
2.8% as the economy recovered briskly from the year before’s recession,
with output and employment both rebounding through the year. The map of
the country changed that year for the first time since 1912: Alaska
joined the union January 3, and Hawaii followed August 21, completing the
50-state United States. Ninety miles from Florida, Cuba changed hands
that January, when Fidel Castro’s guerrilla forces overthrew President
Fulgencio Batista, who fled the country on the 1st; Castro entered Havana
on the 8th, beginning a Communist government that would define Cold War
tensions in the hemisphere for decades. Labor and management fought their
longest battle of the postwar era that summer: the United Steelworkers
walked out July 15 in a dispute over work rules, the longest strike in the
industry’s history, before a federal court granted the Eisenhower
administration a Taft-Hartley back-to-work order that November. Consumer
prices finished the decade 193.9% above their 1913 level,
up 20.7% from where they stood in 1950. First-class
postage held at 4 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.00 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1959: $100 is worth $227 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1959/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1959. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1959/