$100 in 1917 is worth $347 in 1973,
because prices increased 246.9% over that period, an average of
2.25% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$347
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
246.9%
Average inflation rate
2.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$347
Price difference ($100 base)
$247
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1917 → 1973
$347
$100 in 1973 → 1917
$28.83
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1973
Between 1917 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 246.9%, which works out to an average of
2.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1973: the 1917 dollar
lost 71.2% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 1973 at the same ratio, 3.47: $1,000 becomes
$3,469, and $10,000 becomes $34,687.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1973
$1.00
$3.47
$5.00
$17.34
$10.00
$34.69
$20.00
$69.37
$50.00
$173
$100
$347
$500
$1,734
$1,000
$3,469
$5,000
$17,344
$10,000
$34,687
$100,000
$346,875
$1,000,000
$3,468,750
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1973
Between 1917 and 1973, food rose the most, up 232.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 219.8%, against 246.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.25%
$347
Food
2.17%
$332
Apparel
2.10%
$320
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 1973
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 1917–1973 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
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$347
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $141 by
1945, on its way to $347 in 1973; 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: 1973
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $347; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1973: $100 is worth $347 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1973/