$100 in 1917 is worth $1,575 in 2006,
because prices increased 1475.0% over that period, an average of
3.15% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,575
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1475.0%
Average inflation rate
3.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,575
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,475
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1917 → 2006
$1,575
$100 in 2006 → 1917
$6.35
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2006
Between 1917 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1475.0%, which works out to an average of
3.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2006: the 1917 dollar
lost 93.7% of its purchasing power over
these 89 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 2006 at the same ratio, 15.75: $1,000 becomes
$15,750, and $10,000 becomes $157,500.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2006
$1.00
$15.75
$5.00
$78.75
$10.00
$157
$20.00
$315
$50.00
$787
$100
$1,575
$500
$7,875
$1,000
$15,750
$5,000
$78,750
$10,000
$157,500
$100,000
$1,575,000
$1,000,000
$15,750,000
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2006
Between 1917 and 2006, food rose the most, up 1246.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 491.6%, against 1475.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.15%
$1,575
Food
2.96%
$1,346
Apparel
2.02%
$592
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 2006
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 1917–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$1,575
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $236 by
1962, on its way to $1,575 in 2006; 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: 2006
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,575; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2006: $100 is worth $1,575 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2006/