$100 in 1918 is worth $929 in 1992,
because prices increased 829.1% over that period, an average of
3.06% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$929
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
829.1%
Average inflation rate
3.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$929
Price difference ($100 base)
$829
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1918 → 1992
$929
$100 in 1992 → 1918
$10.76
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1992
Between 1918 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 829.1%, which works out to an average of
3.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1992: the 1918 dollar
lost 89.2% of its purchasing power over
these 74 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 1992 at the same ratio, 9.29: $1,000 becomes
$9,291, and $10,000 becomes $92,914.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1992
$1.00
$9.29
$5.00
$46.46
$10.00
$92.91
$20.00
$186
$50.00
$465
$100
$929
$500
$4,646
$1,000
$9,291
$5,000
$46,457
$10,000
$92,914
$100,000
$929,139
$1,000,000
$9,291,391
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1992
Between 1918 and 1992, food rose the most, up 725.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 383.2%, against 829.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.06%
$929
Food
2.89%
$826
Apparel
2.15%
$483
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 1992
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 1918–1992 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$866
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$929
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $177 by
1953, on its way to $929 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $929; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 1992: $100 is worth $929 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1992/