$100 in 1919 is worth $1,478 in 2019,
because prices increased 1377.8% over that period, an average of
2.73% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$1,478
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1377.8%
Average inflation rate
2.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,478
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,378
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1919 → 2019
$1,478
$100 in 2019 → 1919
$6.77
What happened to prices between 1919 and 2019
Between 1919 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1377.8%, which works out to an average of
2.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2019: the 1919 dollar
lost 93.2% of its purchasing power over
these 100 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 2019 at the same ratio, 14.78: $1,000 becomes
$14,778, and $10,000 becomes $147,779.
Amount in 1919
Value in 2019
$1.00
$14.78
$5.00
$73.89
$10.00
$148
$20.00
$296
$50.00
$739
$100
$1,478
$500
$7,389
$1,000
$14,778
$5,000
$73,889
$10,000
$147,779
$100,000
$1,477,786
$1,000,000
$14,777,861
Inflation by spending category, 1919–2019
Between 1919 and 2019, food rose the most, up 1288.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 242.7%, against 1377.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.73%
$1,478
Food
2.67%
$1,389
Apparel
1.24%
$343
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 2019
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 1919–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,478
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $212 by
1969, on its way to $1,478 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $1,478; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,478 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-2019/