$100 in 1917 is worth $316 in 1971,
because prices increased 216.4% over that period, an average of
2.16% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$316
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
216.4%
Average inflation rate
2.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$316
Price difference ($100 base)
$216
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1917 → 1971
$316
$100 in 1971 → 1917
$31.60
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1971
Between 1917 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 216.4%, which works out to an average of
2.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1971: the 1917 dollar
lost 68.4% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 1971 at the same ratio, 3.16: $1,000 becomes
$3,164, and $10,000 becomes $31,641.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1971
$1.00
$3.16
$5.00
$15.82
$10.00
$31.64
$20.00
$63.28
$50.00
$158
$100
$316
$500
$1,582
$1,000
$3,164
$5,000
$15,820
$10,000
$31,641
$100,000
$316,406
$1,000,000
$3,164,063
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1971
Between 1917 and 1971, apparel rose the most, up 202.5%, while food rose the least, up 178.6%, against 216.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.16%
$316
Apparel
2.07%
$302
Food
1.92%
$279
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 1971
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 1917–1971 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$303
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$316
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $135 by
1943, on its way to $316 in 1971; 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: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $316; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1971: $100 is worth $316 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1971/