$100 in 1919 is worth $1,368 in 2014,
because prices increased 1268.4% over that period, an average of
2.79% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$1,368
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1268.4%
Average inflation rate
2.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,368
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,268
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1919 → 2014
$1,368
$100 in 2014 → 1919
$7.31
What happened to prices between 1919 and 2014
Between 1919 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1268.4%, which works out to an average of
2.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2014: the 1919 dollar
lost 92.7% of its purchasing power over
these 95 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 2014 at the same ratio, 13.68: $1,000 becomes
$13,684, and $10,000 becomes $136,842.
Amount in 1919
Value in 2014
$1.00
$13.68
$5.00
$68.42
$10.00
$137
$20.00
$274
$50.00
$684
$100
$1,368
$500
$6,842
$1,000
$13,684
$5,000
$68,421
$10,000
$136,842
$100,000
$1,368,416
$1,000,000
$13,684,162
Inflation by spending category, 1919–2014
Between 1919 and 2014, food rose the most, up 1205.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 252.2%, against 1268.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.79%
$1,368
Food
2.74%
$1,305
Apparel
1.33%
$352
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 2014
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 1919–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,368
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $179 by
1964, on its way to $1,368 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $1,368; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,368 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2014/