$100 in 1917 is worth $1,962 in 2018,
because prices increased 1861.8% over that period, an average of
2.99% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,962
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1861.8%
Average inflation rate
2.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,962
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,862
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1917 → 2018
$1,962
$100 in 2018 → 1917
$5.10
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2018
Between 1917 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1861.8%, which works out to an average of
2.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2018: the 1917 dollar
lost 94.9% of its purchasing power over
these 101 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 2018 at the same ratio, 19.62: $1,000 becomes
$19,618, and $10,000 becomes $196,177.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2018
$1.00
$19.62
$5.00
$98.09
$10.00
$196
$20.00
$392
$50.00
$981
$100
$1,962
$500
$9,809
$1,000
$19,618
$5,000
$98,089
$10,000
$196,177
$100,000
$1,961,773
$1,000,000
$19,617,734
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2018
Between 1917 and 2018, food rose the most, up 1648.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 522.0%, against 1861.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.99%
$1,962
Food
2.87%
$1,749
Apparel
1.83%
$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 2018
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 1917–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$1,962
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $261 by
1967, on its way to $1,962 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,962; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2018: $100 is worth $1,962 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2018/