$100 in 1917 is worth $1,345 in 2000,
because prices increased 1245.3% over that period, an average of
3.18% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,345
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1245.3%
Average inflation rate
3.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,345
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,245
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1917 → 2000
$1,345
$100 in 2000 → 1917
$7.43
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2000
Between 1917 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1245.3%, which works out to an average of
3.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2000: the 1917 dollar
lost 92.6% of its purchasing power over
these 83 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 2000 at the same ratio, 13.45: $1,000 becomes
$13,453, and $10,000 becomes $134,531.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2000
$1.00
$13.45
$5.00
$67.27
$10.00
$135
$20.00
$269
$50.00
$673
$100
$1,345
$500
$6,727
$1,000
$13,453
$5,000
$67,266
$10,000
$134,531
$100,000
$1,345,312
$1,000,000
$13,453,125
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2000
Between 1917 and 2000, food rose the most, up 1057.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 541.6%, against 1245.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.18%
$1,345
Food
2.99%
$1,157
Apparel
2.26%
$642
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 2000
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 1917–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,345
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $220 by
1957, on its way to $1,345 in 2000; 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: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,345; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2000: $100 is worth $1,345 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2000/