$100 in 1917 is worth $1,064 in 1991,
because prices increased 964.1% over that period, an average of
3.25% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,064
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
964.1%
Average inflation rate
3.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,064
Price difference ($100 base)
$964
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1917 → 1991
$1,064
$100 in 1991 → 1917
$9.40
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1991
Between 1917 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 964.1%, which works out to an average of
3.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1991: the 1917 dollar
lost 90.6% of its purchasing power over
these 74 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 1991 at the same ratio, 10.64: $1,000 becomes
$10,641, and $10,000 becomes $106,406.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1991
$1.00
$10.64
$5.00
$53.20
$10.00
$106
$20.00
$213
$50.00
$532
$100
$1,064
$500
$5,320
$1,000
$10,641
$5,000
$53,203
$10,000
$106,406
$100,000
$1,064,062
$1,000,000
$10,640,625
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1991
Between 1917 and 1991, food rose the most, up 840.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 537.1%, against 964.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.25%
$1,064
Food
3.07%
$940
Apparel
2.53%
$637
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 1991
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 1917–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$1,064
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $207 by
1952, on its way to $1,064 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,064; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1991: $100 is worth $1,064 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1991/