$100 in 1918 is worth $377 in 1976,
because prices increased 276.8% over that period, an average of
2.31% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$377
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
276.8%
Average inflation rate
2.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$377
Price difference ($100 base)
$277
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1918 → 1976
$377
$100 in 1976 → 1918
$26.54
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1976
Between 1918 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 276.8%, which works out to an average of
2.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1976: the 1918 dollar
lost 73.5% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 1976 at the same ratio, 3.77: $1,000 becomes
$3,768, and $10,000 becomes $37,682.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1976
$1.00
$3.77
$5.00
$18.84
$10.00
$37.68
$20.00
$75.36
$50.00
$188
$100
$377
$500
$1,884
$1,000
$3,768
$5,000
$18,841
$10,000
$37,682
$100,000
$376,821
$1,000,000
$3,768,212
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1976
Between 1918 and 1976, food rose the most, up 268.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 175.5%, against 276.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.31%
$377
Food
2.28%
$369
Apparel
1.76%
$275
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 1976
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 1918–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$377
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $129 by
1946, on its way to $377 in 1976; 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: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $377; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1976: $100 is worth $377 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1976/