$100 in 1918 is worth $215 in 1966,
because prices increased 114.6% over that period, an average of
1.60% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$215
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
114.6%
Average inflation rate
1.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$215
Price difference ($100 base)
$115
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1918 → 1966
$215
$100 in 1966 → 1918
$46.60
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1966
Between 1918 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 114.6%, which works out to an average of
1.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.47 buys in 1966: the 1918 dollar
lost 53.4% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 1966 at the same ratio, 2.15: $1,000 becomes
$2,146, and $10,000 becomes $21,457.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1966
$1.00
$2.15
$5.00
$10.73
$10.00
$21.46
$20.00
$42.91
$50.00
$107
$100
$215
$500
$1,073
$1,000
$2,146
$5,000
$10,728
$10,000
$21,457
$100,000
$214,570
$1,000,000
$2,145,695
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1966
Between 1918 and 1966, food rose the most, up 102.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 79.5%, against 114.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.60%
$215
Food
1.48%
$202
Apparel
1.23%
$179
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 1966
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 1918–1966 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$196
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$215
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $108 by
1942, on its way to $215 in 1966; 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: 1966
In 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $215; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1966: $100 is worth $215 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1966/