$100 in 1919 is worth $1,370 in 2015,
because prices increased 1270.0% over that period, an average of
2.76% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$1,370
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1270.0%
Average inflation rate
2.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,370
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,270
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1919 → 2015
$1,370
$100 in 2015 → 1919
$7.30
What happened to prices between 1919 and 2015
Between 1919 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1270.0%, which works out to an average of
2.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2015: the 1919 dollar
lost 92.7% of its purchasing power over
these 96 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 2015 at the same ratio, 13.70: $1,000 becomes
$13,700, and $10,000 becomes $137,004.
Amount in 1919
Value in 2015
$1.00
$13.70
$5.00
$68.50
$10.00
$137
$20.00
$274
$50.00
$685
$100
$1,370
$500
$6,850
$1,000
$13,700
$5,000
$68,502
$10,000
$137,004
$100,000
$1,370,040
$1,000,000
$13,700,405
Inflation by spending category, 1919–2015
Between 1919 and 2015, food rose the most, up 1229.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 247.8%, against 1270.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.76%
$1,370
Food
2.73%
$1,329
Apparel
1.31%
$348
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 2015
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 1919–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$1,370
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $212 by
1969, on its way to $1,370 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $1,370; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 2015: $100 is worth $1,370 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2015/