$1 in 1905 is worth $1.14 in 1914

Value of $1 from 1905 to 1914

$1 in 1905 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1.14 in 1914, an increase of $0.14 over 9 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.43% per year between 1905 and 1914, producing a cumulative price increase of 13.64%.

This means that prices in 1914 are 1.14 times as high as average prices since 1905, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index.

The inflation rate in 1905 was -1.12%. The inflation rate in 1914 was 1.01%. The 1914 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 3.17% per year between 1914 and 2024.


Inflation from 1905 to 1914
Cumulative price change13.64%
Average inflation rate1.43%
Converted amount
$1 base
$1.14
Price difference
$1 base
$0.14
CPI in 19058.800
CPI in 191410.000
Inflation in 1905-1.12%
Inflation in 19141.01%
$1 in 1905$1.14 in 1914

USD inflation since 1905
Annual Rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of $1 in 1905

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for $1 in 1905 (price index tracking began in 1635).

For example, if you started with $1, you would need to end with $1.14 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When $1 is equivalent to $1.14 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single U.S. dollar decreases over time. In other words, a dollar will pay for fewer items at the store.

This effect explains how inflation erodes the value of a dollar over time. By calculating the value in 1905 dollars, the chart below shows how $1 is worth less over 9 years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, each of these USD amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

Dollar inflation: 1905-1914
YearDollar ValueInflation Rate
1905$1.00-1.12%
1906$1.022.27%
1907$1.074.44%
1908$1.05-2.13%
1909$1.03-1.09%
1910$1.084.40%
1911$1.080.00%
1912$1.102.11%
1913$1.132.06%
1914$1.141.01%
1915$1.151.00%
1916$1.247.92%
1917$1.4517.43%
1918$1.7217.97%
1919$1.9714.57%
1920$2.2715.61%
1921$2.03-10.50%
1922$1.91-6.15%
1923$1.941.79%
1924$1.940.00%
1925$1.992.34%
1926$2.011.14%
1927$1.98-1.69%
1928$1.94-1.72%
1929$1.940.00%
1930$1.90-2.34%
1931$1.73-8.98%
1932$1.56-9.87%
1933$1.48-5.11%
1934$1.523.08%
1935$1.562.24%
1936$1.581.46%
1937$1.643.60%
1938$1.60-2.08%
1939$1.58-1.42%
1940$1.590.72%
1941$1.675.00%
1942$1.8510.88%
1943$1.976.13%
1944$2.001.73%
1945$2.052.27%
1946$2.228.33%
1947$2.5314.36%
1948$2.748.07%
1949$2.70-1.24%
1950$2.741.26%
1951$2.957.88%
1952$3.011.92%
1953$3.030.75%
1954$3.060.75%
1955$3.05-0.37%
1956$3.091.49%
1957$3.193.31%
1958$3.282.85%
1959$3.310.69%
1960$3.361.72%
1961$3.401.01%
1962$3.431.00%
1963$3.481.32%
1964$3.521.31%
1965$3.581.61%
1966$3.682.86%
1967$3.803.09%
1968$3.954.19%
1969$4.175.46%
1970$4.415.72%
1971$4.604.38%
1972$4.753.21%
1973$5.056.22%
1974$5.6011.04%
1975$6.119.13%
1976$6.475.76%
1977$6.896.50%
1978$7.417.59%
1979$8.2511.35%
1980$9.3613.50%
1981$10.3310.32%
1982$10.976.16%
1983$11.323.21%
1984$11.814.32%
1985$12.233.56%
1986$12.451.86%
1987$12.913.65%
1988$13.444.14%
1989$14.094.82%
1990$14.855.40%
1991$15.484.21%
1992$15.943.01%
1993$16.422.99%
1994$16.842.56%
1995$17.322.83%
1996$17.832.95%
1997$18.242.29%
1998$18.521.56%
1999$18.932.21%
2000$19.573.36%
2001$20.122.85%
2002$20.441.58%
2003$20.912.28%
2004$21.472.66%
2005$22.193.39%
2006$22.913.23%
2007$23.562.85%
2008$24.473.84%
2009$24.38-0.36%
2010$24.781.64%
2011$25.563.16%
2012$26.092.07%
2013$26.471.46%
2014$26.901.62%
2015$26.930.12%
2016$27.271.26%
2017$27.852.13%
2018$28.552.49%
2019$29.051.76%
2020$29.411.23%
2021$30.794.70%
2022$33.268.00%
2023$34.634.12%
2024$35.261.85%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 3 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1905 amounts in 1914 dollars, based on the 13.64% change in prices:

Conversion: 1905 dollars in 1914
Initial valueEquivalent value
$1 dollar in 1905$1.14 dollars in 1914
$5 dollars in 1905$5.68 dollars in 1914
$10 dollars in 1905$11.36 dollars in 1914
$50 dollars in 1905$56.82 dollars in 1914
$100 dollars in 1905$113.64 dollars in 1914
$500 dollars in 1905$568.18 dollars in 1914
$1,000 dollars in 1905$1,136.36 dollars in 1914
$5,000 dollars in 1905$5,681.82 dollars in 1914
$10,000 dollars in 1905$11,363.64 dollars in 1914
$50,000 dollars in 1905$56,818.18 dollars in 1914
$100,000 dollars in 1905$113,636.36 dollars in 1914
$500,000 dollars in 1905$568,181.82 dollars in 1914
$1,000,000 dollars in 1905$1,136,363.64 dollars in 1914

Inflation by Country

Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £1.00 in 1905 would be equivalent to £1.05 in 1914, an absolute change of £0.05 and a cumulative change of 5.38%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $0.14 and total percent change of 13.64%.


Inflation by Spending Category

CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. Breaking down these categories helps explain the main drivers behind price changes.

This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1905 and 1914.

Compare these values to the overall average of 1.43% per year:

CategoryAvg Inflation (%)Total Inflation (%)$1 in 1905 → 1914
Food and beverages0.000.001.00
Housing0.000.001.00
Apparel0.676.201.06
Transportation0.000.001.00
Medical care0.000.001.00
Recreation0.000.001.00
Education and communication0.000.001.00
Other goods and services0.000.001.00

The graph below compares inflation in categories of goods over time. Click on a category such as "Food" to toggle it on or off:

For all these visualizations, it's important to note that not all categories may have been tracked since 1905. This table and charts use the earliest available data for each category.



How to calculate inflation rate for $1, 1905 to 1914

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1905 and 1914:

CPI in 1914 CPI in 1905
×
1905 USD value
=
1914 USD value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.S. CPI was 8.8 in the year 1905 and 10 in 1914:

108.8
×
$1
=
$1.14

$1 in 1905 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $1.14 in 1914.

To get the total inflation rate for the 9 years between 1905 and 1914, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1914 - CPI in 1905CPI in 1905
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (9 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

10 - 8.88.8
×
100
=
14%

Comparison to S&P 500 Index

The average inflation rate of 1.43% has a compounding effect between 1905 and 1914. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 13.64% over 9 years.

To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $1 in the S&P 500 index in 1905, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $1.45 in 1914. This is a return on investment of 44.71%, with an absolute return of $0.45 on top of the original $1.

These numbers are not inflation adjusted, so they are considered nominal. In order to evaluate the real return on our investment, we must calculate the return with inflation taken into account.

The compounding effect of inflation would account for 12.00% of returns ($0.17) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $1 investment is $0.27. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $0 for most people.

Investment in S&P 500 Index, 1905-1914
Original AmountFinal AmountChange
Nominal$1$1.4544.71%
Real
Inflation Adjusted
$1$1.2727.35%

Information displayed above may differ slightly from other S&P 500 calculators. Minor discrepancies can occur because we use the latest CPI data for inflation, annualized inflation numbers for previous years, and we compute S&P price and dividends from January of 1905 to latest available data for 1914 using average monthly close price.

For more details on the S&P 500 between 1905 and 1914, see the stock market returns calculator.


Data source & citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (CPI), established in 1913. Price index data from 1774 to 1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University and from the American Antiquarian Society. Price index data from 1634 to 1773 is from the American Antiquarian Society, using British pound equivalents.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page: “$1 in 1905 → 1914 | Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 28 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1905-dollars-in-1914?amount=1.

Special thanks to QuickChart for their chart image API, which is used for chart downloads.

in2013dollars.com is a reference website maintained by the Official Data Foundation.


Ian Webster

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

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» Read more about inflation and investment.

Inflation from 1905 to 1914
Cumulative price change13.64%
Average inflation rate1.43%
Converted amount
$1 base
$1.14
Price difference
$1 base
$0.14
CPI in 19058.800
CPI in 191410.000
Inflation in 1905-1.12%
Inflation in 19141.01%
$1 in 1905$1.14 in 1914