$100 in 1918 is worth $268 in 1971,
because prices increased 168.2% over that period, an average of
1.88% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$268
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
168.2%
Average inflation rate
1.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$268
Price difference ($100 base)
$168
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1918 → 1971
$268
$100 in 1971 → 1918
$37.28
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1971
Between 1918 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 168.2%, which works out to an average of
1.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.37 buys in 1971: the 1918 dollar
lost 62.7% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 1971 at the same ratio, 2.68: $1,000 becomes
$2,682, and $10,000 becomes $26,821.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1971
$1.00
$2.68
$5.00
$13.41
$10.00
$26.82
$20.00
$53.64
$50.00
$134
$100
$268
$500
$1,341
$1,000
$2,682
$5,000
$13,411
$10,000
$26,821
$100,000
$268,212
$1,000,000
$2,682,119
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1971
Between 1918 and 1971, food rose the most, up 141.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 123.8%, against 168.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.88%
$268
Food
1.68%
$242
Apparel
1.53%
$224
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 1971
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 1918–1971 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$257
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$268
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $117 by
1944, on its way to $268 in 1971; 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: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $268; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1971: $100 is worth $268 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1971/