$100 in 1917 is worth $1,021 in 1990,
because prices increased 921.1% over that period, an average of
3.23% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,021
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
921.1%
Average inflation rate
3.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,021
Price difference ($100 base)
$921
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1917 → 1990
$1,021
$100 in 1990 → 1917
$9.79
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1990
Between 1917 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 921.1%, which works out to an average of
3.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1990: the 1917 dollar
lost 90.2% of its purchasing power over
these 73 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 1990 at the same ratio, 10.21: $1,000 becomes
$10,211, and $10,000 becomes $102,109.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1990
$1.00
$10.21
$5.00
$51.05
$10.00
$102
$20.00
$204
$50.00
$511
$100
$1,021
$500
$5,105
$1,000
$10,211
$5,000
$51,055
$10,000
$102,109
$100,000
$1,021,094
$1,000,000
$10,210,937
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1990
Between 1917 and 1990, food rose the most, up 813.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 514.4%, against 921.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.23%
$1,021
Food
3.08%
$913
Apparel
2.52%
$614
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 1990
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 1917–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$1,021
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $207 by
1952, on its way to $1,021 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,021; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1990: $100 is worth $1,021 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1990/