$100 in 1924 is worth $1,468 in 2018,
because prices increased 1368.5% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$1,468
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1368.5%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,468
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,368
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1924 → 2018
$1,468
$100 in 2018 → 1924
$6.81
What happened to prices between 1924 and 2018
Between 1924 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1368.5%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2018: the 1924 dollar
lost 93.2% of its purchasing power over
these 94 years.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1924 amount converts to 2018 at the same ratio, 14.68: $1,000 becomes
$14,685, and $10,000 becomes $146,846.
Amount in 1924
Value in 2018
$1.00
$14.68
$5.00
$73.42
$10.00
$147
$20.00
$294
$50.00
$734
$100
$1,468
$500
$7,342
$1,000
$14,685
$5,000
$73,423
$10,000
$146,846
$100,000
$1,468,462
$1,000,000
$14,684,620
Inflation by spending category, 1924–2018
Between 1924 and 2018, food rose the most, up 1568.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 368.9%, against 1368.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$1,468
Food
3.04%
$1,668
Apparel
1.66%
$469
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1924: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1924 to 2018
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 1924–2018 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$1,468
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $215 by
1969, on its way to $1,468 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $1,468; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 2018: $100 is worth $1,468 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2018/