$100 in 1918 is worth $726 in 1986,
because prices increased 625.8% over that period, an average of
2.96% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$726
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
625.8%
Average inflation rate
2.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$726
Price difference ($100 base)
$626
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1918 → 1986
$726
$100 in 1986 → 1918
$13.78
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1986
Between 1918 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 625.8%, which works out to an average of
2.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1986: the 1918 dollar
lost 86.2% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 1986 at the same ratio, 7.26: $1,000 becomes
$7,258, and $10,000 becomes $72,583.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1986
$1.00
$7.26
$5.00
$36.29
$10.00
$72.58
$20.00
$145
$50.00
$363
$100
$726
$500
$3,629
$1,000
$7,258
$5,000
$36,291
$10,000
$72,583
$100,000
$725,828
$1,000,000
$7,258,278
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1986
Between 1918 and 1986, food rose the most, up 552.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 287.9%, against 625.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.96%
$726
Food
2.80%
$653
Apparel
2.01%
$388
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 1986
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 1918–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$726
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $177 by
1953, on its way to $726 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $726; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1986: $100 is worth $726 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1986/