$100 in 1917 is worth $1,997 in 2019,
because prices increased 1897.3% over that period, an average of
2.98% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$1,997
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1897.3%
Average inflation rate
2.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,997
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,897
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1917 → 2019
$1,997
$100 in 2019 → 1917
$5.01
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2019
Between 1917 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1897.3%, which works out to an average of
2.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2019: the 1917 dollar
lost 95.0% of its purchasing power over
these 102 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 2019 at the same ratio, 19.97: $1,000 becomes
$19,973, and $10,000 becomes $199,732.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2019
$1.00
$19.97
$5.00
$99.87
$10.00
$200
$20.00
$399
$50.00
$999
$100
$1,997
$500
$9,987
$1,000
$19,973
$5,000
$99,866
$10,000
$199,732
$100,000
$1,997,320
$1,000,000
$19,973,203
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2019
Between 1917 and 2019, food rose the most, up 1681.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 514.1%, against 1897.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.98%
$1,997
Food
2.86%
$1,781
Apparel
1.80%
$614
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 2019
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 1917–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,997
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $261 by
1967, on its way to $1,997 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $1,997; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,997 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2019/