$100 in 1918 is worth $602 in 1981,
because prices increased 502.0% over that period, an average of
2.89% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$602
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
502.0%
Average inflation rate
2.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$602
Price difference ($100 base)
$502
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1918 → 1981
$602
$100 in 1981 → 1918
$16.61
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1981
Between 1918 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 502.0%, which works out to an average of
2.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1981: the 1918 dollar
lost 83.4% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 1981 at the same ratio, 6.02: $1,000 becomes
$6,020, and $10,000 becomes $60,199.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1981
$1.00
$6.02
$5.00
$30.10
$10.00
$60.20
$20.00
$120
$50.00
$301
$100
$602
$500
$3,010
$1,000
$6,020
$5,000
$30,099
$10,000
$60,199
$100,000
$601,987
$1,000,000
$6,019,868
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1981
Between 1918 and 1981, food rose the most, up 460.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 249.1%, against 502.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.89%
$602
Food
2.77%
$560
Apparel
2.00%
$349
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 1981
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 1918–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$546
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$602
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $160 by
1948, on its way to $602 in 1981; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $602; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1981: $100 is worth $602 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1981/