$100 in 1917 is worth $246 in 1965,
because prices increased 146.1% over that period, an average of
1.89% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$246
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
146.1%
Average inflation rate
1.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$246
Price difference ($100 base)
$146
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1917 → 1965
$246
$100 in 1965 → 1917
$40.63
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1965
Between 1917 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 146.1%, which works out to an average of
1.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.41 buys in 1965: the 1917 dollar
lost 59.4% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 1965 at the same ratio, 2.46: $1,000 becomes
$2,461, and $10,000 becomes $24,609.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1965
$1.00
$2.46
$5.00
$12.30
$10.00
$24.61
$20.00
$49.22
$50.00
$123
$100
$246
$500
$1,230
$1,000
$2,461
$5,000
$12,305
$10,000
$24,609
$100,000
$246,094
$1,000,000
$2,460,938
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1965
Between 1917 and 1965, apparel rose the most, up 136.6%, while food rose the least, up 122.1%, against 146.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.89%
$246
Apparel
1.81%
$237
Food
1.68%
$222
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 1965
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 1917–1965 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
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$246
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $115 by
1941, on its way to $246 in 1965; 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: 1965
In 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $246; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% 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 1965: $100 is worth $246 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1965/