$100 in 1917 is worth $385 in 1974,
because prices increased 285.2% over that period, an average of
2.39% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$385
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
285.2%
Average inflation rate
2.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$385
Price difference ($100 base)
$285
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1917 → 1974
$385
$100 in 1974 → 1917
$25.96
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1974
Between 1917 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 285.2%, which works out to an average of
2.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1974: the 1917 dollar
lost 74.0% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 1974 at the same ratio, 3.85: $1,000 becomes
$3,852, and $10,000 becomes $38,516.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1974
$1.00
$3.85
$5.00
$19.26
$10.00
$38.52
$20.00
$77.03
$50.00
$193
$100
$385
$500
$1,926
$1,000
$3,852
$5,000
$19,258
$10,000
$38,516
$100,000
$385,156
$1,000,000
$3,851,562
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1974
Between 1917 and 1974, food rose the most, up 280.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 243.6%, against 285.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.39%
$385
Food
2.37%
$380
Apparel
2.19%
$344
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 1974
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 1917–1974 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
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$385
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $141 by
1945, on its way to $385 in 1974; 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: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $385; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1974: $100 is worth $385 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1974/