$100 in 1918 is worth $160 in 1950,
because prices increased 59.6% over that period, an average of
1.47% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$160
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
59.6%
Average inflation rate
1.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$160
Price difference ($100 base)
$59.60
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1918 → 1950
$160
$100 in 1950 → 1918
$62.66
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1950
Between 1918 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 59.6%, which works out to an average of
1.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.63 buys in 1950: the 1918 dollar
lost 37.3% of its purchasing power over
these 32 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 1950 at the same ratio, 1.60: $1,000 becomes
$1,596, and $10,000 becomes $15,960.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.60
$5.00
$7.98
$10.00
$15.96
$20.00
$31.92
$50.00
$79.80
$100
$160
$500
$798
$1,000
$1,596
$5,000
$7,980
$10,000
$15,960
$100,000
$159,603
$1,000,000
$1,596,026
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1950
Between 1918 and 1950, food rose the most, up 52.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 47.6%, against 59.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.47%
$160
Food
1.32%
$152
Apparel
1.22%
$148
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 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.09% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1918–1950 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
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$92.72
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$160
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $88.74 by
1934, on its way to $160 in 1950; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1950
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $160; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1950: $100 is worth $160 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1950/