$100 in 1917 is worth $710 in 1981,
because prices increased 610.2% over that period, an average of
3.11% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$710
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
610.2%
Average inflation rate
3.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$710
Price difference ($100 base)
$610
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1917 → 1981
$710
$100 in 1981 → 1917
$14.08
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1981
Between 1917 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 610.2%, which works out to an average of
3.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1981: the 1917 dollar
lost 85.9% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 1981 at the same ratio, 7.10: $1,000 becomes
$7,102, and $10,000 becomes $71,016.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1981
$1.00
$7.10
$5.00
$35.51
$10.00
$71.02
$20.00
$142
$50.00
$355
$100
$710
$500
$3,551
$1,000
$7,102
$5,000
$35,508
$10,000
$71,016
$100,000
$710,156
$1,000,000
$7,101,563
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1981
Between 1917 and 1981, food rose the most, up 545.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 371.8%, against 610.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.11%
$710
Food
2.96%
$646
Apparel
2.45%
$472
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 1981
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 1917–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$644
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$710
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $174 by
1947, on its way to $710 in 1981; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $710; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1981: $100 is worth $710 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1981/