$100 in 1918 is worth $1,444 in 2010,
because prices increased 1344.1% over that period, an average of
2.94% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$1,444
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1344.1%
Average inflation rate
2.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,444
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,344
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1918 → 2010
$1,444
$100 in 2010 → 1918
$6.92
What happened to prices between 1918 and 2010
Between 1918 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1344.1%, which works out to an average of
2.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2010: the 1918 dollar
lost 93.1% of its purchasing power over
these 92 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 2010 at the same ratio, 14.44: $1,000 becomes
$14,441, and $10,000 becomes $144,408.
Amount in 1918
Value in 2010
$1.00
$14.44
$5.00
$72.20
$10.00
$144
$20.00
$289
$50.00
$722
$100
$1,444
$500
$7,220
$1,000
$14,441
$5,000
$72,204
$10,000
$144,408
$100,000
$1,444,079
$1,000,000
$14,440,795
Inflation by spending category, 1918–2010
Between 1918 and 2010, food rose the most, up 1215.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 337.7%, against 1344.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.94%
$1,444
Food
2.84%
$1,315
Apparel
1.62%
$438
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 2010
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 1918–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,444
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $203 by
1963, on its way to $1,444 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $1,444; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,444 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2010/