$100 in 1917 is worth $473 in 1977,
because prices increased 373.4% over that period, an average of
2.63% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$473
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
373.4%
Average inflation rate
2.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$473
Price difference ($100 base)
$373
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1917 → 1977
$473
$100 in 1977 → 1917
$21.12
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1977
Between 1917 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 373.4%, which works out to an average of
2.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1977: the 1917 dollar
lost 78.9% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 1977 at the same ratio, 4.73: $1,000 becomes
$4,734, and $10,000 becomes $47,344.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1977
$1.00
$4.73
$5.00
$23.67
$10.00
$47.34
$20.00
$94.69
$50.00
$237
$100
$473
$500
$2,367
$1,000
$4,734
$5,000
$23,672
$10,000
$47,344
$100,000
$473,438
$1,000,000
$4,734,375
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1977
Between 1917 and 1977, food rose the most, up 351.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 289.1%, against 373.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.63%
$473
Food
2.55%
$452
Apparel
2.29%
$389
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 1977
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 1917–1977 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
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$473
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $174 by
1947, on its way to $473 in 1977; 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: 1977
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $473; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1977: $100 is worth $473 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1977/