$100 in 1917 is worth $1,915 in 2017,
because prices increased 1815.0% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,915
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1815.0%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,915
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,815
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1917 → 2017
$1,915
$100 in 2017 → 1917
$5.22
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2017
Between 1917 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1815.0%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2017: the 1917 dollar
lost 94.8% of its purchasing power over
these 100 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 2017 at the same ratio, 19.15: $1,000 becomes
$19,150, and $10,000 becomes $191,500.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2017
$1.00
$19.15
$5.00
$95.75
$10.00
$192
$20.00
$383
$50.00
$957
$100
$1,915
$500
$9,575
$1,000
$19,150
$5,000
$95,750
$10,000
$191,500
$100,000
$1,915,000
$1,000,000
$19,150,000
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2017
Between 1917 and 2017, food rose the most, up 1624.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 521.8%, against 1815.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$1,915
Food
2.89%
$1,725
Apparel
1.84%
$622
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 2017
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 1917–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$1,915
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $261 by
1967, on its way to $1,915 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,915; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2017: $100 is worth $1,915 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2017/