$100 in 1919 is worth $1,387 in 2016,
because prices increased 1287.3% over that period, an average of
2.75% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$1,387
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1287.3%
Average inflation rate
2.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,387
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,287
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1919 → 2016
$1,387
$100 in 2016 → 1919
$7.21
What happened to prices between 1919 and 2016
Between 1919 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1287.3%, which works out to an average of
2.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2016: the 1919 dollar
lost 92.8% of its purchasing power over
these 97 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 2016 at the same ratio, 13.87: $1,000 becomes
$13,873, and $10,000 becomes $138,732.
Amount in 1919
Value in 2016
$1.00
$13.87
$5.00
$69.37
$10.00
$139
$20.00
$277
$50.00
$694
$100
$1,387
$500
$6,937
$1,000
$13,873
$5,000
$69,366
$10,000
$138,732
$100,000
$1,387,324
$1,000,000
$13,873,237
Inflation by spending category, 1919–2016
Between 1919 and 2016, food rose the most, up 1233.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 248.2%, against 1287.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.75%
$1,387
Food
2.71%
$1,333
Apparel
1.29%
$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 2016
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 1919–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,387
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $212 by
1969, on its way to $1,387 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $1,387; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,387 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2016/