$100 in 1919 is worth $787 in 1991,
because prices increased 687.3% over that period, an average of
2.91% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$787
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
687.3%
Average inflation rate
2.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$787
Price difference ($100 base)
$687
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1919 → 1991
$787
$100 in 1991 → 1919
$12.70
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1991
Between 1919 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 687.3%, which works out to an average of
2.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1991: the 1919 dollar
lost 87.3% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 1991 at the same ratio, 7.87: $1,000 becomes
$7,873, and $10,000 becomes $78,728.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1991
$1.00
$7.87
$5.00
$39.36
$10.00
$78.73
$20.00
$157
$50.00
$394
$100
$787
$500
$3,936
$1,000
$7,873
$5,000
$39,364
$10,000
$78,728
$100,000
$787,283
$1,000,000
$7,872,832
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1991
Between 1919 and 1991, food rose the most, up 632.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 255.5%, against 687.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.91%
$787
Food
2.80%
$733
Apparel
1.78%
$356
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 1991
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 1919–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$787
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $155 by
1954, on its way to $787 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $787; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1991: $100 is worth $787 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1991/