$100 in 1919 is worth $907 in 1996,
because prices increased 806.9% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$907
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
806.9%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$907
Price difference ($100 base)
$807
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1919 → 1996
$907
$100 in 1996 → 1919
$11.03
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1996
Between 1919 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 806.9%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1996: the 1919 dollar
lost 89.0% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 1996 at the same ratio, 9.07: $1,000 becomes
$9,069, and $10,000 becomes $90,694.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1996
$1.00
$9.07
$5.00
$45.35
$10.00
$90.69
$20.00
$181
$50.00
$453
$100
$907
$500
$4,535
$1,000
$9,069
$5,000
$45,347
$10,000
$90,694
$100,000
$906,936
$1,000,000
$9,069,364
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1996
Between 1919 and 1996, food rose the most, up 724.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 263.8%, against 806.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$907
Food
2.78%
$824
Apparel
1.69%
$364
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 1996
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 1919–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$907
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $168 by
1959, on its way to $907 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $907; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1996: $100 is worth $907 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1996/