$100 in 1919 is worth $928 in 1997,
because prices increased 827.7% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$928
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
827.7%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$928
Price difference ($100 base)
$828
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1919 → 1997
$928
$100 in 1997 → 1919
$10.78
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1997
Between 1919 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 827.7%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1997: the 1919 dollar
lost 89.2% of its purchasing power over
these 78 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 1997 at the same ratio, 9.28: $1,000 becomes
$9,277, and $10,000 becomes $92,775.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1997
$1.00
$9.28
$5.00
$46.39
$10.00
$92.77
$20.00
$186
$50.00
$464
$100
$928
$500
$4,639
$1,000
$9,277
$5,000
$46,387
$10,000
$92,775
$100,000
$927,746
$1,000,000
$9,277,457
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1997
Between 1919 and 1997, food rose the most, up 745.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 267.1%, against 827.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$928
Food
2.77%
$846
Apparel
1.68%
$367
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 1997
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 1919–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$928
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $168 by
1959, on its way to $928 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $928; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1997: $100 is worth $928 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1997/