$100 in 1917 is worth $1,794 in 2012,
because prices increased 1693.7% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,794
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1693.7%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,794
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,694
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1917 → 2012
$1,794
$100 in 2012 → 1917
$5.58
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2012
Between 1917 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1693.7%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2012: the 1917 dollar
lost 94.4% of its purchasing power over
these 95 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 2012 at the same ratio, 17.94: $1,000 becomes
$17,937, and $10,000 becomes $179,370.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2012
$1.00
$17.94
$5.00
$89.69
$10.00
$179
$20.00
$359
$50.00
$897
$100
$1,794
$500
$8,969
$1,000
$17,937
$5,000
$89,685
$10,000
$179,370
$100,000
$1,793,703
$1,000,000
$17,937,031
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2012
Between 1917 and 2012, food rose the most, up 1512.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 525.1%, against 1693.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$1,794
Food
2.97%
$1,612
Apparel
1.95%
$625
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 2012
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 1917–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,794
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $236 by
1962, on its way to $1,794 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,794; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,794 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2012/