$100 in 1919 is worth $755 in 1990,
because prices increased 655.5% over that period, an average of
2.89% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$755
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
655.5%
Average inflation rate
2.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$755
Price difference ($100 base)
$655
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1919 → 1990
$755
$100 in 1990 → 1919
$13.24
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1990
Between 1919 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 655.5%, which works out to an average of
2.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1990: the 1919 dollar
lost 86.8% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 1990 at the same ratio, 7.55: $1,000 becomes
$7,555, and $10,000 becomes $75,549.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1990
$1.00
$7.55
$5.00
$37.77
$10.00
$75.55
$20.00
$151
$50.00
$378
$100
$755
$500
$3,777
$1,000
$7,555
$5,000
$37,775
$10,000
$75,549
$100,000
$755,491
$1,000,000
$7,554,913
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1990
Between 1919 and 1990, food rose the most, up 611.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 242.8%, against 655.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.89%
$755
Food
2.80%
$712
Apparel
1.75%
$343
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 1990
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 1919–1990 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$476
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$755
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $155 by
1954, on its way to $755 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $755; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1990: $100 is worth $755 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1990/