$100 in 1919 is worth $234 in 1971,
because prices increased 134.1% over that period, an average of
1.65% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$234
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
134.1%
Average inflation rate
1.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$234
Price difference ($100 base)
$134
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1919 → 1971
$234
$100 in 1971 → 1919
$42.72
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1971
Between 1919 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 134.1%, which works out to an average of
1.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1971: the 1919 dollar
lost 57.3% of its purchasing power over
these 52 years.
The fighting in Europe ended in November 1918, but American prices kept
climbing through 1919 almost as fast as they had during the war itself,
rising 14.6% for the year. Wartime price and production controls were being
dismantled, millions of soldiers were returning to the civilian labor
market, and demand that had been held back for years ran into supply that
had not caught up, a combination that kept the cost of living rising even
with the guns silent. Workers, whose pay had fallen behind three straight
years of double-digit inflation, pushed back: a general strike shut down
Seattle in February, Boston’s police force walked out in September, and a
nationwide steel strike that same month drew in roughly 350,000 workers and
ran into the following January. One price did fall that year: first-class
postage reverted to 2 cents on July 1, ending the wartime 3-cent rate that
had funded part of the war effort since late 1917. By year’s end, prices had
risen close to 75% since the CPI’s 1913 starting point,
compressing more than a decade of typical peacetime inflation into six years
of war and its aftermath.
Every 1919 amount converts to 1971 at the same ratio, 2.34: $1,000 becomes
$2,341, and $10,000 becomes $23,410.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1971
$1.00
$2.34
$5.00
$11.71
$10.00
$23.41
$20.00
$46.82
$50.00
$117
$100
$234
$500
$1,171
$1,000
$2,341
$5,000
$11,705
$10,000
$23,410
$100,000
$234,104
$1,000,000
$2,341,040
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1971
Between 1919 and 1971, food rose the most, up 117.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 68.8%, against 134.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.65%
$234
Food
1.50%
$217
Apparel
1.01%
$169
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1919: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1919 to 1971
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.61% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1919–1971 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1919, at end
1919–1920
15.61%
15.6%
$116
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$96.53
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$80.92
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$139
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$171
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$224
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$234
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $104 by
1945, on its way to $234 in 1971; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $234; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1971: $100 is worth $234 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1971/