$100 in 1917 is worth $1,096 in 1992,
because prices increased 996.1% over that period, an average of
3.24% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,096
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
996.1%
Average inflation rate
3.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,096
Price difference ($100 base)
$996
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1917 → 1992
$1,096
$100 in 1992 → 1917
$9.12
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1992
Between 1917 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 996.1%, which works out to an average of
3.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1992: the 1917 dollar
lost 90.9% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 1992 at the same ratio, 10.96: $1,000 becomes
$10,961, and $10,000 becomes $109,609.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1992
$1.00
$10.96
$5.00
$54.80
$10.00
$110
$20.00
$219
$50.00
$548
$100
$1,096
$500
$5,480
$1,000
$10,961
$5,000
$54,805
$10,000
$109,609
$100,000
$1,096,094
$1,000,000
$10,960,938
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1992
Between 1917 and 1992, food rose the most, up 851.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 553.0%, against 996.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.24%
$1,096
Food
3.05%
$951
Apparel
2.53%
$653
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 1992
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 1917–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$1,096
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $207 by
1952, on its way to $1,096 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,096; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1992: $100 is worth $1,096 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1992/