$100 in 1917 is worth $242 in 1964,
because prices increased 142.2% over that period, an average of
1.90% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$242
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
142.2%
Average inflation rate
1.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$242
Price difference ($100 base)
$142
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1917 → 1964
$242
$100 in 1964 → 1917
$41.29
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1964
Between 1917 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 142.2%, which works out to an average of
1.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.41 buys in 1964: the 1917 dollar
lost 58.7% of its purchasing power over
these 47 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 1964 at the same ratio, 2.42: $1,000 becomes
$2,422, and $10,000 becomes $24,219.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1964
$1.00
$2.42
$5.00
$12.11
$10.00
$24.22
$20.00
$48.44
$50.00
$121
$100
$242
$500
$1,211
$1,000
$2,422
$5,000
$12,109
$10,000
$24,219
$100,000
$242,188
$1,000,000
$2,421,875
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1964
Between 1917 and 1964, apparel rose the most, up 134.2%, while food rose the least, up 117.2%, against 142.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.90%
$242
Apparel
1.83%
$234
Food
1.66%
$217
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 1964
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 1917–1964 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
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$242
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $115 by
1941, on its way to $242 in 1964; 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: 1964
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $242; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1964: $100 is worth $242 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1964/