$100 in 1918 is worth $1,623 in 2017,
because prices increased 1523.3% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$1,623
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1523.3%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,623
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,523
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1918 → 2017
$1,623
$100 in 2017 → 1918
$6.16
What happened to prices between 1918 and 2017
Between 1918 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1523.3%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2017: the 1918 dollar
lost 93.8% of its purchasing power over
these 99 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 2017 at the same ratio, 16.23: $1,000 becomes
$16,233, and $10,000 becomes $162,331.
Amount in 1918
Value in 2017
$1.00
$16.23
$5.00
$81.17
$10.00
$162
$20.00
$325
$50.00
$812
$100
$1,623
$500
$8,117
$1,000
$16,233
$5,000
$81,166
$10,000
$162,331
$100,000
$1,623,311
$1,000,000
$16,233,113
Inflation by spending category, 1918–2017
Between 1918 and 2017, food rose the most, up 1397.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 360.1%, against 1523.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$1,623
Food
2.77%
$1,497
Apparel
1.55%
$460
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 2017
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 1918–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$1,623
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $230 by
1968, on its way to $1,623 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $1,623; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 2017: $100 is worth $1,623 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2017/