$100 in 1923 is worth $1,384 in 2014,
because prices increased 1284.4% over that period, an average of
2.93% a year.
$100 in 1923 has
the same buying power as
$1,384
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1284.4%
Average inflation rate
2.93% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,384
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,284
CPI in 1923
17.1
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1923
1.79%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1923 → 2014
$1,384
$100 in 2014 → 1923
$7.22
What happened to prices between 1923 and 2014
Between 1923 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1284.4%, which works out to an average of
2.93% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1923 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2014: the 1923 dollar
lost 92.8% of its purchasing power over
these 91 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 2014 at the same ratio, 13.84: $1,000 becomes
$13,844, and $10,000 becomes $138,442.
Amount in 1923
Value in 2014
$1.00
$13.84
$5.00
$69.22
$10.00
$138
$20.00
$277
$50.00
$692
$100
$1,384
$500
$6,922
$1,000
$13,844
$5,000
$69,221
$10,000
$138,442
$100,000
$1,384,421
$1,000,000
$13,844,211
Inflation by spending category, 1923–2014
Between 1923 and 2014, food rose the most, up 1476.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 370.5%, against 1284.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1923
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1923 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.93%
$1,384
Food
3.08%
$1,576
Apparel
1.72%
$471
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 2014
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 1923–2014 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,007
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,275
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,384
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1923
$100 from 1923 had already become $204 by
1968, on its way to $1,384 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1923 had the buying
power of $1,384; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1923 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,384 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1923 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-2014/