$100 in 1917 is worth $1,254 in 1997,
because prices increased 1153.9% over that period, an average of
3.21% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,254
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1153.9%
Average inflation rate
3.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,254
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,154
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1917 → 1997
$1,254
$100 in 1997 → 1917
$7.98
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1997
Between 1917 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1153.9%, which works out to an average of
3.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1997: the 1917 dollar
lost 92.0% of its purchasing power over
these 80 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 1997 at the same ratio, 12.54: $1,000 becomes
$12,539, and $10,000 becomes $125,391.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1997
$1.00
$12.54
$5.00
$62.70
$10.00
$125
$20.00
$251
$50.00
$627
$100
$1,254
$500
$6,270
$1,000
$12,539
$5,000
$62,695
$10,000
$125,391
$100,000
$1,253,906
$1,000,000
$12,539,063
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1997
Between 1917 and 1997, food rose the most, up 984.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 557.9%, against 1153.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.21%
$1,254
Food
3.02%
$1,085
Apparel
2.38%
$658
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 1997
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 1917–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$1,254
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $220 by
1957, on its way to $1,254 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,254; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1997: $100 is worth $1,254 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1997/