$100 in 1919 is worth $1,260 in 2010,
because prices increased 1160.4% over that period, an average of
2.82% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$1,260
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1160.4%
Average inflation rate
2.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,260
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,160
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1919 → 2010
$1,260
$100 in 2010 → 1919
$7.93
What happened to prices between 1919 and 2010
Between 1919 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1160.4%, which works out to an average of
2.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2010: the 1919 dollar
lost 92.1% of its purchasing power over
these 91 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 2010 at the same ratio, 12.60: $1,000 becomes
$12,604, and $10,000 becomes $126,044.
Amount in 1919
Value in 2010
$1.00
$12.60
$5.00
$63.02
$10.00
$126
$20.00
$252
$50.00
$630
$100
$1,260
$500
$6,302
$1,000
$12,604
$5,000
$63,022
$10,000
$126,044
$100,000
$1,260,439
$1,000,000
$12,604,393
Inflation by spending category, 1919–2010
Between 1919 and 2010, food rose the most, up 1080.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 230.1%, against 1160.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.82%
$1,260
Food
2.75%
$1,181
Apparel
1.32%
$330
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 2010
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 1919–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,260
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $179 by
1964, on its way to $1,260 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $1,260; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,260 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2010/