$100 in 1918 is worth $1,426 in 2008,
because prices increased 1325.8% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$1,426
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1325.8%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,426
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,326
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1918 → 2008
$1,426
$100 in 2008 → 1918
$7.01
What happened to prices between 1918 and 2008
Between 1918 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1325.8%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2008: the 1918 dollar
lost 93.0% of its purchasing power over
these 90 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 2008 at the same ratio, 14.26: $1,000 becomes
$14,258, and $10,000 becomes $142,585.
Amount in 1918
Value in 2008
$1.00
$14.26
$5.00
$71.29
$10.00
$143
$20.00
$285
$50.00
$713
$100
$1,426
$500
$7,129
$1,000
$14,258
$5,000
$71,292
$10,000
$142,585
$100,000
$1,425,848
$1,000,000
$14,258,477
Inflation by spending category, 1918–2008
Between 1918 and 2008, food rose the most, up 1182.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 335.6%, against 1325.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$1,426
Food
2.88%
$1,282
Apparel
1.65%
$436
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 2008
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 1918–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,426
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $203 by
1963, on its way to $1,426 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $1,426; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,426 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2008/