$100 in 1917 is worth $841 in 1985,
because prices increased 740.6% over that period, an average of
3.18% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$841
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
740.6%
Average inflation rate
3.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$841
Price difference ($100 base)
$741
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1917 → 1985
$841
$100 in 1985 → 1917
$11.90
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1985
Between 1917 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 740.6%, which works out to an average of
3.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1985: the 1917 dollar
lost 88.1% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 1985 at the same ratio, 8.41: $1,000 becomes
$8,406, and $10,000 becomes $84,062.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1985
$1.00
$8.41
$5.00
$42.03
$10.00
$84.06
$20.00
$168
$50.00
$420
$100
$841
$500
$4,203
$1,000
$8,406
$5,000
$42,031
$10,000
$84,062
$100,000
$840,625
$1,000,000
$8,406,250
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1985
Between 1917 and 1985, food rose the most, up 628.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 419.8%, against 740.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.18%
$841
Food
2.96%
$728
Apparel
2.45%
$520
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 1985
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 1917–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$841
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $207 by
1952, on its way to $841 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $841; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1985: $100 is worth $841 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1985/