$100 in 1923 is worth $288 in 1974,
because prices increased 188.3% over that period, an average of
2.10% a year.
$100 in 1923 has
the same buying power as
$288
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
188.3%
Average inflation rate
2.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$288
Price difference ($100 base)
$188
CPI in 1923
17.1
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1923
1.79%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1923 → 1974
$288
$100 in 1974 → 1923
$34.69
What happened to prices between 1923 and 1974
Between 1923 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 188.3%, which works out to an average of
2.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1923 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1974: the 1923 dollar
lost 65.3% of its purchasing power over
these 51 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.8% in 1923, the first increase since 1920 and a sign
the postwar deflation had run its course; the economy settled into the
steadier growth that defined much of the rest of the decade. The year’s
biggest shock was political rather than economic: Warren Harding died August
2 in San Francisco while returning from a trip to Alaska, and Vice President
Calvin Coolidge was sworn in the next day at his family’s farmhouse in
Plymouth Notch, Vermont, administered the oath of office by his own father,
a notary public, by lamplight. Coolidge would go on to preside over the low,
stable inflation of the “Roaring Twenties.” The contrast with Germany that
year was stark. The Weimar Republic’s currency collapse reached its peak in
November 1923, with prices doubling every few days and a loaf of bread
costing billions of marks; Germany introduced a new currency, the
Rentenmark, that month to halt the spiral. U.S. consumer prices, by
comparison, had moved in single digits or held flat every year since 1921, a
gap that shaped how American economists would later think about what made
the postwar inflation of Europe so different from the mild swings at home.
First-class postage stayed at 2 cents.
Every 1923 amount converts to 1974 at the same ratio, 2.88: $1,000 becomes
$2,883, and $10,000 becomes $28,830.
Amount in 1923
Value in 1974
$1.00
$2.88
$5.00
$14.42
$10.00
$28.83
$20.00
$57.66
$50.00
$144
$100
$288
$500
$1,442
$1,000
$2,883
$5,000
$14,415
$10,000
$28,830
$100,000
$288,304
$1,000,000
$2,883,041
Inflation by spending category, 1923–1974
Between 1923 and 1974, food rose the most, up 257.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 156.1%, against 188.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1923
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1923 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.10%
$288
Food
2.53%
$358
Apparel
1.86%
$256
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1923: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1923 to 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1923–1974 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1923, at end
1923–1930
-0.34%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$227
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$288
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1923
$100 from 1923 had already become $139 by
1949, on its way to $288 in 1974; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1923 had the buying
power of $288; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1923 to 1974: $100 is worth $288 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1923 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-1974/