$100 in 1918 is worth $90.73 in 1935,
because prices declined 9.3% over that period, an average of
0.57% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$90.73
in 1935
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-9.3%
Average inflation rate
-0.57% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$90.73
Price difference ($100 base)
-$9.27
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1935
13.7
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
$100 in 1918 → 1935
$90.73
$100 in 1935 → 1918
$110
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1935
Between 1918 and 1935, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices declined 9.3%, which works out to an average of
-0.57% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$1.10 buys in 1935: the 1918 dollar
gained 10.2% in purchasing power over
these 17 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 1935 at the same ratio, 0.91: $1,000 becomes
$907, and $10,000 becomes $9,073.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1935
$1.00
$0.91
$5.00
$4.54
$10.00
$9.07
$20.00
$18.15
$50.00
$45.36
$100
$90.73
$500
$454
$1,000
$907
$5,000
$4,536
$10,000
$9,073
$100,000
$90,728
$1,000,000
$907,285
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1935
Every category fell between 1918 and 1935: food the most, down 25.7%, and apparel the least, down 23.8%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1935, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.57%
$90.73
Apparel
-1.59%
$76.19
Food
-1.74%
$74.25
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 1935
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.09% a year, and fell in the 1930s (3.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1918–1935 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1918, at end
1918–1920
15.09%
32.5%
$132
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$111
1930–1935
-3.88%
-18.0%
$90.73
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $117 by
1926, on its way to $90.73 in 1935; 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 1935, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $90.73; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1935 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1935: $100 is worth $90.73 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1935/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1935. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1935/