$100 in 1919 is worth $881 in 1995,
because prices increased 780.9% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$881
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
780.9%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$881
Price difference ($100 base)
$781
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1919 → 1995
$881
$100 in 1995 → 1919
$11.35
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1995
Between 1919 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 780.9%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1995: the 1919 dollar
lost 88.6% of its purchasing power over
these 76 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 1995 at the same ratio, 8.81: $1,000 becomes
$8,809, and $10,000 becomes $88,092.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1995
$1.00
$8.81
$5.00
$44.05
$10.00
$88.09
$20.00
$176
$50.00
$440
$100
$881
$500
$4,405
$1,000
$8,809
$5,000
$44,046
$10,000
$88,092
$100,000
$880,925
$1,000,000
$8,809,249
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1995
Between 1919 and 1995, food rose the most, up 697.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 264.6%, against 780.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$881
Food
2.77%
$798
Apparel
1.72%
$365
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 1995
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 1919–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$881
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $168 by
1959, on its way to $881 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $881; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1995: $100 is worth $881 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1995/