$100 in 1917 is worth $2,380 in 2023,
because prices increased 2280.5% over that period, an average of
3.04% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$2,380
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2280.5%
Average inflation rate
3.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,380
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,280
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1917 → 2023
$2,380
$100 in 2023 → 1917
$4.20
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2023
Between 1917 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2280.5%, which works out to an average of
3.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.04 buys in 2023: the 1917 dollar
lost 95.8% of its purchasing power over
these 106 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 2023 at the same ratio, 23.80: $1,000 becomes
$23,805, and $10,000 becomes $238,048.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2023
$1.00
$23.80
$5.00
$119
$10.00
$238
$20.00
$476
$50.00
$1,190
$100
$2,380
$500
$11,902
$1,000
$23,805
$5,000
$119,024
$10,000
$238,048
$100,000
$2,380,484
$1,000,000
$23,804,844
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2023
Between 1917 and 2023, food rose the most, up 2127.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 546.4%, against 2280.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.04%
$2,380
Food
2.97%
$2,227
Apparel
1.78%
$646
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 2023
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 1917–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$2,022
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$2,380
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $327 by
1972, on its way to $2,380 in 2023; 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $2,380; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2023: $100 is worth $2,380 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2023/