$100 in 1918 is worth $1,568 in 2014,
because prices increased 1467.8% over that period, an average of
2.91% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$1,568
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1467.8%
Average inflation rate
2.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,568
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,468
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1918 → 2014
$1,568
$100 in 2014 → 1918
$6.38
What happened to prices between 1918 and 2014
Between 1918 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1467.8%, which works out to an average of
2.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2014: the 1918 dollar
lost 93.6% of its purchasing power over
these 96 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 2014 at the same ratio, 15.68: $1,000 becomes
$15,678, and $10,000 becomes $156,779.
Amount in 1918
Value in 2014
$1.00
$15.68
$5.00
$78.39
$10.00
$157
$20.00
$314
$50.00
$784
$100
$1,568
$500
$7,839
$1,000
$15,678
$5,000
$78,389
$10,000
$156,779
$100,000
$1,567,788
$1,000,000
$15,677,881
Inflation by spending category, 1918–2014
Between 1918 and 2014, food rose the most, up 1353.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 367.1%, against 1467.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.91%
$1,568
Food
2.83%
$1,453
Apparel
1.62%
$467
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 2014
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 1918–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,568
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $230 by
1968, on its way to $1,568 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $1,568; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,568 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2014/