$100 in 1918 is worth $2,018 in 2023,
because prices increased 1917.9% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$2,018
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1917.9%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,018
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,918
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1918 → 2023
$2,018
$100 in 2023 → 1918
$4.96
What happened to prices between 1918 and 2023
Between 1918 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1917.9%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2023: the 1918 dollar
lost 95.0% of its purchasing power over
these 105 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 2023 at the same ratio, 20.18: $1,000 becomes
$20,179, and $10,000 becomes $201,789.
Amount in 1918
Value in 2023
$1.00
$20.18
$5.00
$101
$10.00
$202
$20.00
$404
$50.00
$1,009
$100
$2,018
$500
$10,089
$1,000
$20,179
$5,000
$100,895
$10,000
$201,789
$100,000
$2,017,894
$1,000,000
$20,178,940
Inflation by spending category, 1918–2023
Between 1918 and 2023, food rose the most, up 1833.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 378.3%, against 1917.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$2,018
Food
2.86%
$1,934
Apparel
1.50%
$478
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 2023
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 1918–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,714
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$2,018
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $230 by
1968, on its way to $2,018 in 2023; 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1918 had the buying
power of $2,018; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1918 to 2023: $100 is worth $2,018 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-2023/