$100 in 1917 is worth $856 in 1986,
because prices increased 756.2% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$856
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
756.2%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$856
Price difference ($100 base)
$756
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1917 → 1986
$856
$100 in 1986 → 1917
$11.68
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1986
Between 1917 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 756.2%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1986: the 1917 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 69 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 1986 at the same ratio, 8.56: $1,000 becomes
$8,562, and $10,000 becomes $85,625.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1986
$1.00
$8.56
$5.00
$42.81
$10.00
$85.62
$20.00
$171
$50.00
$428
$100
$856
$500
$4,281
$1,000
$8,562
$5,000
$42,812
$10,000
$85,625
$100,000
$856,250
$1,000,000
$8,562,500
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1986
Between 1917 and 1986, food rose the most, up 651.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 424.3%, against 756.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$856
Food
2.97%
$752
Apparel
2.43%
$524
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 1986
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 1917–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$856
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $207 by
1952, on its way to $856 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $856; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1986: $100 is worth $856 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1986/