$100 in 1917 is worth $778 in 1983,
because prices increased 678.1% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$778
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
678.1%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$778
Price difference ($100 base)
$678
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1917 → 1983
$778
$100 in 1983 → 1917
$12.85
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1983
Between 1917 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 678.1%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1983: the 1917 dollar
lost 87.1% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 1983 at the same ratio, 7.78: $1,000 becomes
$7,781, and $10,000 becomes $77,812.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1983
$1.00
$7.78
$5.00
$38.91
$10.00
$77.81
$20.00
$156
$50.00
$389
$100
$778
$500
$3,891
$1,000
$7,781
$5,000
$38,906
$10,000
$77,812
$100,000
$778,125
$1,000,000
$7,781,250
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1983
Between 1917 and 1983, food rose the most, up 585.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 396.0%, against 678.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$778
Food
2.96%
$686
Apparel
2.46%
$496
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 1983
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 1917–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$778
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $207 by
1952, on its way to $778 in 1983; 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: 1983
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $778; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1983: $100 is worth $778 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1983/