$100 in 1918 is worth $713 in 1985,
because prices increased 612.6% over that period, an average of
2.97% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$713
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
612.6%
Average inflation rate
2.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$713
Price difference ($100 base)
$613
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1918 → 1985
$713
$100 in 1985 → 1918
$14.03
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1985
Between 1918 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 612.6%, which works out to an average of
2.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1985: the 1918 dollar
lost 86.0% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 1985 at the same ratio, 7.13: $1,000 becomes
$7,126, and $10,000 becomes $71,258.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1985
$1.00
$7.13
$5.00
$35.63
$10.00
$71.26
$20.00
$143
$50.00
$356
$100
$713
$500
$3,563
$1,000
$7,126
$5,000
$35,629
$10,000
$71,258
$100,000
$712,583
$1,000,000
$7,125,828
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1985
Between 1918 and 1985, food rose the most, up 532.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 284.6%, against 612.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.97%
$713
Food
2.79%
$632
Apparel
2.03%
$385
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 1985
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 1918–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$713
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $177 by
1953, on its way to $713 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $713; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1985: $100 is worth $713 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1985/