$100 in 1918 is worth $1,589 in 2016,
because prices increased 1489.5% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$1,589
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1489.5%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,589
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,489
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1918 → 2016
$1,589
$100 in 2016 → 1918
$6.29
What happened to prices between 1918 and 2016
Between 1918 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1489.5%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2016: the 1918 dollar
lost 93.7% of its purchasing power over
these 98 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 2016 at the same ratio, 15.89: $1,000 becomes
$15,895, and $10,000 becomes $158,945.
Amount in 1918
Value in 2016
$1.00
$15.89
$5.00
$79.47
$10.00
$159
$20.00
$318
$50.00
$795
$100
$1,589
$500
$7,947
$1,000
$15,895
$5,000
$79,473
$10,000
$158,945
$100,000
$1,589,450
$1,000,000
$15,894,503
Inflation by spending category, 1918–2016
Between 1918 and 2016, food rose the most, up 1384.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 361.7%, against 1489.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$1,589
Food
2.79%
$1,485
Apparel
1.57%
$462
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 2016
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 1918–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,589
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $230 by
1968, on its way to $1,589 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $1,589; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,589 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2016/