$100 in 1917 is worth $1,384 in 2001,
because prices increased 1283.6% over that period, an average of
3.18% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,384
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1283.6%
Average inflation rate
3.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,384
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,284
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1917 → 2001
$1,384
$100 in 2001 → 1917
$7.23
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2001
Between 1917 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1283.6%, which works out to an average of
3.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2001: the 1917 dollar
lost 92.8% of its purchasing power over
these 84 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 2001 at the same ratio, 13.84: $1,000 becomes
$13,836, and $10,000 becomes $138,359.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2001
$1.00
$13.84
$5.00
$69.18
$10.00
$138
$20.00
$277
$50.00
$692
$100
$1,384
$500
$6,918
$1,000
$13,836
$5,000
$69,180
$10,000
$138,359
$100,000
$1,383,594
$1,000,000
$13,835,937
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2001
Between 1917 and 2001, food rose the most, up 1093.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 530.2%, against 1283.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.18%
$1,384
Food
3.00%
$1,194
Apparel
2.22%
$630
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 2001
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 1917–2001 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
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,384
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $220 by
1957, on its way to $1,384 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,384; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,384 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2001/