$100 in 1923 is worth $939 in 1997,
because prices increased 838.6% over that period, an average of
3.07% a year.
$100 in 1923 has
the same buying power as
$939
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
838.6%
Average inflation rate
3.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$939
Price difference ($100 base)
$839
CPI in 1923
17.1
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1923
1.79%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1923 → 1997
$939
$100 in 1997 → 1923
$10.65
What happened to prices between 1923 and 1997
Between 1923 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 838.6%, which works out to an average of
3.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1923 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1997: the 1923 dollar
lost 89.3% of its purchasing power over
these 74 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 1997 at the same ratio, 9.39: $1,000 becomes
$9,386, and $10,000 becomes $93,860.
Amount in 1923
Value in 1997
$1.00
$9.39
$5.00
$46.93
$10.00
$93.86
$20.00
$188
$50.00
$469
$100
$939
$500
$4,693
$1,000
$9,386
$5,000
$46,930
$10,000
$93,860
$100,000
$938,596
$1,000,000
$9,385,965
Inflation by spending category, 1923–1997
Between 1923 and 1997, food rose the most, up 921.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 390.4%, against 838.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1923
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1923 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.07%
$939
Food
3.19%
$1,021
Apparel
2.17%
$490
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 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1923–1997 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$482
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$764
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$939
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1923
$100 from 1923 had already become $169 by
1958, on its way to $939 in 1997; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1923 had the buying
power of $939; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1923 to 1997: $100 is worth $939 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1923 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-1997/