$100 in 1919 is worth $995 in 2000,
because prices increased 895.4% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$995
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
895.4%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$995
Price difference ($100 base)
$895
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1919 → 2000
$995
$100 in 2000 → 1919
$10.05
What happened to prices between 1919 and 2000
Between 1919 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 895.4%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2000: the 1919 dollar
lost 90.0% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 2000 at the same ratio, 9.95: $1,000 becomes
$9,954, and $10,000 becomes $99,538.
Amount in 1919
Value in 2000
$1.00
$9.95
$5.00
$49.77
$10.00
$99.54
$20.00
$199
$50.00
$498
$100
$995
$500
$4,977
$1,000
$9,954
$5,000
$49,769
$10,000
$99,538
$100,000
$995,376
$1,000,000
$9,953,757
Inflation by spending category, 1919–2000
Between 1919 and 2000, food rose the most, up 802.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 258.0%, against 895.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$995
Food
2.75%
$902
Apparel
1.59%
$358
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 2000
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 1919–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$995
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $168 by
1959, on its way to $995 in 2000; 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: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $995; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 2000: $100 is worth $995 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2000/