$100 in 1918 is worth $111 in 1922,
because prices increased 11.3% over that period, an average of
2.70% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$111
in 1922
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
11.3%
Average inflation rate
2.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$111
Price difference ($100 base)
$11.26
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1922
16.8
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
$100 in 1918 → 1922
$111
$100 in 1922 → 1918
$89.88
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1922
Between 1918 and 1922, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 16.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 11.3%, which works out to an average of
2.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.90 buys in 1922: the 1918 dollar
lost 10.1% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
1918 brought the steepest annual price increase the CPI had recorded:
consumer prices rose 18.0% for the year, edging out 1917’s already sharp
17.4% as the economy stayed at full wartime mobilization for most of the
year. A first-class stamp cost 3 cents, up from 2 cents the previous
November under the War Revenue Act’s wartime tax increases. The war itself
ended on November 11, when Germany signed an armistice with the Allied
powers after more than four years of fighting in Europe, but the inflation
built up over a year and a half of mobilization did not disappear along with
the fighting. The bigger public health story that year was the influenza
pandemic that reached the U.S. in a mild spring wave and then returned that
fall in a far deadlier form, eventually killing roughly 675,000 Americans,
more than the country’s combat losses in the war. It hit factories, docks,
and shops alongside households, adding disruption to an economy already
strained by wartime demand. Prices would keep climbing even after the
armistice, into the postwar surge of 1919.
Every 1918 amount converts to 1922 at the same ratio, 1.11: $1,000 becomes
$1,113, and $10,000 becomes $11,126.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1922
$1.00
$1.11
$5.00
$5.56
$10.00
$11.13
$20.00
$22.25
$50.00
$55.63
$100
$111
$500
$556
$1,000
$1,113
$5,000
$5,563
$10,000
$11,126
$100,000
$111,258
$1,000,000
$1,112,583
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1922
Every category fell between 1918 and 1922: food the most, down 10.8%, and apparel the least, down 1.1%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1922, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.70%
$111
Apparel
-0.28%
$98.90
Food
-2.81%
$89.22
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1918: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1918 to 1922
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.09% a year, and fell in the 1920s (8.3% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1918–1922 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1918, at end
1918–1920
15.09%
32.5%
$132
1920–1922
-8.35%
-16.0%
$111
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $132 by
1920, on its way to $111 in 1922; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 15.6% in 1920, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1922, prices fell 6.1% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $111; the year's average CPI of 16.8 is the level
behind every 1922 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1922: $100 is worth $111 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1922/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1922. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1922/