$100 in 1918 is worth $1,140 in 2000,
because prices increased 1040.4% over that period, an average of
3.01% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$1,140
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1040.4%
Average inflation rate
3.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,140
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,040
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1918 → 2000
$1,140
$100 in 2000 → 1918
$8.77
What happened to prices between 1918 and 2000
Between 1918 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1040.4%, which works out to an average of
3.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2000: the 1918 dollar
lost 91.2% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2000 at the same ratio, 11.40: $1,000 becomes
$11,404, and $10,000 becomes $114,040.
Amount in 1918
Value in 2000
$1.00
$11.40
$5.00
$57.02
$10.00
$114
$20.00
$228
$50.00
$570
$100
$1,140
$500
$5,702
$1,000
$11,404
$5,000
$57,020
$10,000
$114,040
$100,000
$1,140,397
$1,000,000
$11,403,974
Inflation by spending category, 1918–2000
Between 1918 and 2000, food rose the most, up 904.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 374.7%, against 1040.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.01%
$1,140
Food
2.85%
$1,005
Apparel
1.92%
$475
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 2000
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 1918–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,140
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $191 by
1958, on its way to $1,140 in 2000; 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: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $1,140; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 2000: $100 is worth $1,140 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2000/