$100 in 1917 is worth $234 in 1961,
because prices increased 133.6% over that period, an average of
1.95% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$234
in 1961
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
133.6%
Average inflation rate
1.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$234
Price difference ($100 base)
$134
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1961
29.9
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
$100 in 1917 → 1961
$234
$100 in 1961 → 1917
$42.81
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1961
Between 1917 and 1961, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 29.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 133.6%, which works out to an average of
1.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1961: the 1917 dollar
lost 57.2% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 1961 at the same ratio, 2.34: $1,000 becomes
$2,336, and $10,000 becomes $23,359.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1961
$1.00
$2.34
$5.00
$11.68
$10.00
$23.36
$20.00
$46.72
$50.00
$117
$100
$234
$500
$1,168
$1,000
$2,336
$5,000
$11,680
$10,000
$23,359
$100,000
$233,594
$1,000,000
$2,335,937
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1961
Between 1917 and 1961, apparel rose the most, up 128.2%, while food rose the least, up 109.7%, against 133.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1961, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.95%
$234
Apparel
1.89%
$228
Food
1.70%
$210
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 1961
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 1917–1961 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$231
1960–1961
1.01%
1.0%
$234
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $109 by
1939, on its way to $234 in 1961; 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: 1961
In 1961, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $234; the year's average CPI of 29.9 is the level
behind every 1961 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1961: $100 is worth $234 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1961/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1961. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1961/