$100 in 1917 is worth $2,515 in 2025,
because prices increased 2415.2% over that period, an average of
3.03% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$2,515
in 2025
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2415.2%
Average inflation rate
3.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,515
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,415
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 2025
321.943
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 2025
2.63%
$100 in 1917 → 2025
$2,515
$100 in 2025 → 1917
$3.98
What happened to prices between 1917 and 2025
Between 1917 and 2025, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 321.943.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2415.2%, which works out to an average of
3.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.04 buys in 2025: the 1917 dollar
lost 96.0% of its purchasing power over
these 108 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 2025 at the same ratio, 25.15: $1,000 becomes
$25,152, and $10,000 becomes $251,518.
Amount in 1917
Value in 2025
$1.00
$25.15
$5.00
$126
$10.00
$252
$20.00
$503
$50.00
$1,258
$100
$2,515
$500
$12,576
$1,000
$25,152
$5,000
$125,759
$10,000
$251,518
$100,000
$2,515,180
$1,000,000
$25,151,797
Inflation by spending category, 1917–2025
Between 1917 and 2025, food rose the most, up 2241.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 550.1%, against 2415.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 2025, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.03%
$2,515
Food
2.96%
$2,341
Apparel
1.75%
$650
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 2025
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 1917–2025 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
2020–2025
4.46%
24.4%
$2,515
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $327 by
1972, on its way to $2,515 in 2025; 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: 2025
In 2025, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $2,515; the year's average CPI of 321.943 is the level
behind every 2025 figure on this page.
2025 was a year of trade policy and data disruptions rather than an
inflation surge. Consumer prices rose 2.6% on average, a step down from
2024’s 2.9% and well below the 8.0% of 2022. Tariffs announced in April
pushed up prices for some imported goods, including furniture, apparel, and
auto parts, but the effect on the overall index was smaller than many
forecasters feared at the start of the year, in part because retailers
absorbed some of the cost and demand for services stayed steady.
The Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady through the first half of the
year, then began cutting again in September, lowering it in three quarter-point
steps to 3.50–3.75% by December.
The federal government shutdown that began October 1 lasted 43 days, and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish a CPI for October 2025 because the
survey data could not be collected. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 78 cents in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 2025: $100 is worth $2,515 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2025/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 2025. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-2025/