$100 in 1917 is worth $445 in 1976,
because prices increased 344.5% over that period, an average of
2.56% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$445
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
344.5%
Average inflation rate
2.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$445
Price difference ($100 base)
$345
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1917 → 1976
$445
$100 in 1976 → 1917
$22.50
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1976
Between 1917 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 344.5%, which works out to an average of
2.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1976: the 1917 dollar
lost 77.5% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 1976 at the same ratio, 4.45: $1,000 becomes
$4,445, and $10,000 becomes $44,453.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1976
$1.00
$4.45
$5.00
$22.23
$10.00
$44.45
$20.00
$88.91
$50.00
$222
$100
$445
$500
$2,223
$1,000
$4,445
$5,000
$22,227
$10,000
$44,453
$100,000
$444,531
$1,000,000
$4,445,313
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1976
Between 1917 and 1976, food rose the most, up 324.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 272.3%, against 344.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.56%
$445
Food
2.48%
$425
Apparel
2.25%
$372
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 1976
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 1917–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$445
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $174 by
1947, on its way to $445 in 1976; 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: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $445; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1976: $100 is worth $445 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1976/