$100 in 1917 is worth $1,704 in 2010,
because prices increased 1603.6% over that period, an average of
3.10% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,704
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1603.6%
Average inflation rate
3.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,704
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,604
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1917 → 2010
$1,704
$100 in 2010 → 1917
$5.87
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2010
Between 1917 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1603.6%, which works out to an average of
3.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2010: the 1917 dollar
lost 94.1% of its purchasing power over
these 93 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 2010 at the same ratio, 17.04: $1,000 becomes
$17,036, and $10,000 becomes $170,356.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2010
$1.00
$17.04
$5.00
$85.18
$10.00
$170
$20.00
$341
$50.00
$852
$100
$1,704
$500
$8,518
$1,000
$17,036
$5,000
$85,178
$10,000
$170,356
$100,000
$1,703,563
$1,000,000
$17,035,625
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2010
Between 1917 and 2010, food rose the most, up 1414.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 491.6%, against 1603.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.10%
$1,704
Food
2.97%
$1,515
Apparel
1.93%
$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 2010
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 1917–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,704
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $236 by
1962, on its way to $1,704 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,704; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,704 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2010/