$100 in 1917 is worth $1,405 in 2002,
because prices increased 1305.5% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,405
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1305.5%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,405
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,305
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1917 → 2002
$1,405
$100 in 2002 → 1917
$7.12
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2002
Between 1917 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1305.5%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2002: the 1917 dollar
lost 92.9% of its purchasing power over
these 85 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 2002 at the same ratio, 14.05: $1,000 becomes
$14,055, and $10,000 becomes $140,547.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2002
$1.00
$14.05
$5.00
$70.27
$10.00
$141
$20.00
$281
$50.00
$703
$100
$1,405
$500
$7,027
$1,000
$14,055
$5,000
$70,273
$10,000
$140,547
$100,000
$1,405,469
$1,000,000
$14,054,688
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2002
Between 1917 and 2002, food rose the most, up 1115.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 513.9%, against 1305.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$1,405
Food
2.98%
$1,215
Apparel
2.16%
$614
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 2002
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 1917–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$1,405
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $220 by
1957, on its way to $1,405 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,405; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2002: $100 is worth $1,405 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2002/