$100 in 1919 is worth $963 in 1999,
because prices increased 863.0% over that period, an average of
2.87% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$963
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
863.0%
Average inflation rate
2.87% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$963
Price difference ($100 base)
$863
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1919 → 1999
$963
$100 in 1999 → 1919
$10.38
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1999
Between 1919 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 863.0%, which works out to an average of
2.87% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1999: the 1919 dollar
lost 89.6% of its purchasing power over
these 80 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 1999 at the same ratio, 9.63: $1,000 becomes
$9,630, and $10,000 becomes $96,301.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1999
$1.00
$9.63
$5.00
$48.15
$10.00
$96.30
$20.00
$193
$50.00
$482
$100
$963
$500
$4,815
$1,000
$9,630
$5,000
$48,150
$10,000
$96,301
$100,000
$963,006
$1,000,000
$9,630,058
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1999
Between 1919 and 1999, food rose the most, up 782.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 262.7%, against 863.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.87%
$963
Food
2.76%
$882
Apparel
1.62%
$363
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 1999
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 1919–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$963
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $168 by
1959, on its way to $963 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $963; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1999: $100 is worth $963 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1999/