$100 in 1917 is worth $1,273 in 1998,
because prices increased 1173.4% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,273
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1173.4%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,273
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,173
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1917 → 1998
$1,273
$100 in 1998 → 1917
$7.85
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1998
Between 1917 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1173.4%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1998: the 1917 dollar
lost 92.1% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 1998 at the same ratio, 12.73: $1,000 becomes
$12,734, and $10,000 becomes $127,344.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1998
$1.00
$12.73
$5.00
$63.67
$10.00
$127
$20.00
$255
$50.00
$637
$100
$1,273
$500
$6,367
$1,000
$12,734
$5,000
$63,672
$10,000
$127,344
$100,000
$1,273,438
$1,000,000
$12,734,375
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1998
Between 1917 and 1998, food rose the most, up 1008.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 558.4%, against 1173.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$1,273
Food
3.01%
$1,108
Apparel
2.35%
$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 1998
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 1917–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$1,273
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $220 by
1957, on its way to $1,273 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,273; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1998: $100 is worth $1,273 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1998/