$100 in 1918 is worth $326 in 1974,
because prices increased 226.5% over that period, an average of
2.14% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$326
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
226.5%
Average inflation rate
2.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$326
Price difference ($100 base)
$226
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1918 → 1974
$326
$100 in 1974 → 1918
$30.63
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1974
Between 1918 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 226.5%, which works out to an average of
2.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1974: the 1918 dollar
lost 69.4% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 1974 at the same ratio, 3.26: $1,000 becomes
$3,265, and $10,000 becomes $32,649.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1974
$1.00
$3.26
$5.00
$16.32
$10.00
$32.65
$20.00
$65.30
$50.00
$163
$100
$326
$500
$1,632
$1,000
$3,265
$5,000
$16,325
$10,000
$32,649
$100,000
$326,490
$1,000,000
$3,264,901
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1974
Between 1918 and 1974, food rose the most, up 229.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 154.2%, against 226.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.14%
$326
Food
2.15%
$330
Apparel
1.68%
$254
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 1974
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 1918–1974 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
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$326
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $129 by
1946, on its way to $326 in 1974; 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: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $326; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1974: $100 is worth $326 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1974/