$100 in 1918 is worth $113 in 1928,
because prices increased 13.2% over that period, an average of
1.25% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$113
in 1928
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
13.2%
Average inflation rate
1.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$113
Price difference ($100 base)
$13.25
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1928
17.1
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
$100 in 1918 → 1928
$113
$100 in 1928 → 1918
$88.30
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1928
Between 1918 and 1928, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 17.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 13.2%, which works out to an average of
1.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.88 buys in 1928: the 1918 dollar
lost 11.7% of its purchasing power over
these 10 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 1928 at the same ratio, 1.13: $1,000 becomes
$1,132, and $10,000 becomes $11,325.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1928
$1.00
$1.13
$5.00
$5.66
$10.00
$11.32
$20.00
$22.65
$50.00
$56.62
$100
$113
$500
$566
$1,000
$1,132
$5,000
$5,662
$10,000
$11,325
$100,000
$113,245
$1,000,000
$1,132,450
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1928
Every category fell between 1918 and 1928: apparel the most, down 8.4%, and food the least, down 2.4%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1928, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.25%
$113
Food
-0.24%
$97.60
Apparel
-0.88%
$91.58
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 1928
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.09% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1918–1928 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1918, at end
1918–1920
15.09%
32.5%
$132
1920–1928
-1.94%
-14.5%
$113
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $113 by
1923, on its way to $113 in 1928; 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 1928, prices fell 1.7% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $113; the year's average CPI of 17.1 is the level
behind every 1928 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1928, the second straight year of mild decline
even as the stock market climbed sharply, a widening gap between asset
prices and the cost of living that later economists pointed to as an early
warning sign. The Federal Reserve tightened policy repeatedly over the year,
raising its discount rate in an effort to slow the flood of borrowed money
pouring into stock purchases without derailing the broader economy, a
balancing act it ultimately failed to manage. Herbert Hoover won the
presidential election that November, defeating Democrat Al Smith on a
platform built around continuing the prosperity of the Coolidge years; few
voters or policymakers anticipated how quickly that prosperity would end.
First-class postage remained at 2 cents, a price that had now held for nine
straight years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1928: $100 is worth $113 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1928/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1928. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1928/