$100 in 1917 is worth $1,438 in 2003,
because prices increased 1337.5% over that period, an average of
3.15% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,438
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1337.5%
Average inflation rate
3.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,438
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,338
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1917 → 2003
$1,438
$100 in 2003 → 1917
$6.96
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2003
Between 1917 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1337.5%, which works out to an average of
3.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2003: the 1917 dollar
lost 93.0% of its purchasing power over
these 86 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 2003 at the same ratio, 14.38: $1,000 becomes
$14,375, and $10,000 becomes $143,750.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2003
$1.00
$14.38
$5.00
$71.88
$10.00
$144
$20.00
$288
$50.00
$719
$100
$1,438
$500
$7,188
$1,000
$14,375
$5,000
$71,875
$10,000
$143,750
$100,000
$1,437,500
$1,000,000
$14,375,000
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2003
Between 1917 and 2003, food rose the most, up 1141.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 498.5%, against 1337.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.15%
$1,438
Food
2.97%
$1,241
Apparel
2.10%
$599
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 2003
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 1917–2003 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
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$1,438
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $236 by
1962, on its way to $1,438 in 2003; 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: 2003
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,438; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2003: $100 is worth $1,438 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2003/