$100 in 1923 is worth $1,404 in 2016,
because prices increased 1303.5% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1923 has
the same buying power as
$1,404
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1303.5%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,404
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,304
CPI in 1923
17.1
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1923
1.79%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1923 → 2016
$1,404
$100 in 2016 → 1923
$7.12
What happened to prices between 1923 and 2016
Between 1923 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1303.5%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1923 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2016: the 1923 dollar
lost 92.9% of its purchasing power over
these 93 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 2016 at the same ratio, 14.04: $1,000 becomes
$14,035, and $10,000 becomes $140,355.
Amount in 1923
Value in 2016
$1.00
$14.04
$5.00
$70.18
$10.00
$140
$20.00
$281
$50.00
$702
$100
$1,404
$500
$7,018
$1,000
$14,035
$5,000
$70,177
$10,000
$140,355
$100,000
$1,403,550
$1,000,000
$14,035,497
Inflation by spending category, 1923–2016
Between 1923 and 2016, food rose the most, up 1509.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 365.1%, against 1303.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1923
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1923 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$1,404
Food
3.03%
$1,610
Apparel
1.67%
$465
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 2016
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 1923–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,404
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1923
$100 from 1923 had already become $204 by
1968, on its way to $1,404 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1923 had the buying
power of $1,404; 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 1923 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,404 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1923 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-2016/