$100 in 1917 is worth $420 in 1975,
because prices increased 320.3% over that period, an average of
2.51% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$420
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
320.3%
Average inflation rate
2.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$420
Price difference ($100 base)
$320
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1917 → 1975
$420
$100 in 1975 → 1917
$23.79
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1975
Between 1917 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 320.3%, which works out to an average of
2.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1975: the 1917 dollar
lost 76.2% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 1975 at the same ratio, 4.20: $1,000 becomes
$4,203, and $10,000 becomes $42,031.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1975
$1.00
$4.20
$5.00
$21.02
$10.00
$42.03
$20.00
$84.06
$50.00
$210
$100
$420
$500
$2,102
$1,000
$4,203
$5,000
$21,016
$10,000
$42,031
$100,000
$420,312
$1,000,000
$4,203,125
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1975
Between 1917 and 1975, food rose the most, up 312.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 258.9%, against 320.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.51%
$420
Food
2.47%
$412
Apparel
2.23%
$359
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 1975
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 1917–1975 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
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$420
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $141 by
1945, on its way to $420 in 1975; 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: 1975
In 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $420; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1975: $100 is worth $420 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1975/