$100 in 1917 is worth $1,852 in 2015,
because prices increased 1751.7% over that period, an average of
3.02% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,852
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1751.7%
Average inflation rate
3.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,852
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,752
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1917 → 2015
$1,852
$100 in 2015 → 1917
$5.40
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2015
Between 1917 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1751.7%, which works out to an average of
3.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2015: the 1917 dollar
lost 94.6% of its purchasing power over
these 98 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 2015 at the same ratio, 18.52: $1,000 becomes
$18,517, and $10,000 becomes $185,170.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2015
$1.00
$18.52
$5.00
$92.58
$10.00
$185
$20.00
$370
$50.00
$926
$100
$1,852
$500
$9,258
$1,000
$18,517
$5,000
$92,585
$10,000
$185,170
$100,000
$1,851,695
$1,000,000
$18,516,953
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2015
Between 1917 and 2015, food rose the most, up 1605.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 523.3%, against 1751.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.02%
$1,852
Food
2.94%
$1,705
Apparel
1.88%
$623
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 2015
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 1917–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$1,852
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $261 by
1967, on its way to $1,852 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,852; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2015: $100 is worth $1,852 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2015/