$100 in 1918 is worth $356 in 1975,
because prices increased 256.3% over that period, an average of
2.25% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$356
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
256.3%
Average inflation rate
2.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$356
Price difference ($100 base)
$256
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1918 → 1975
$356
$100 in 1975 → 1918
$28.07
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1975
Between 1918 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 256.3%, which works out to an average of
2.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1975: the 1918 dollar
lost 71.9% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 1975 at the same ratio, 3.56: $1,000 becomes
$3,563, and $10,000 becomes $35,629.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1975
$1.00
$3.56
$5.00
$17.81
$10.00
$35.63
$20.00
$71.26
$50.00
$178
$100
$356
$500
$1,781
$1,000
$3,563
$5,000
$17,815
$10,000
$35,629
$100,000
$356,291
$1,000,000
$3,562,914
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1975
Between 1918 and 1975, food rose the most, up 258.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 165.6%, against 256.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.25%
$356
Food
2.26%
$358
Apparel
1.73%
$266
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 1975
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 1918–1975 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
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$356
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $129 by
1946, on its way to $356 in 1975; 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: 1975
In 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $356; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1975: $100 is worth $356 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1975/