According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, today's prices in 2019 are 1,387.55% higher than average prices throughout 1919. The dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 2.74% per year during this period, meaning the real value of a dollar decreased.
In other words, $50,000 in 1919 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $743,774.57 in 2019, a difference of $693,774.57 over 100 years.
The 1919 inflation rate was 14.57%. The current inflation rate (2018 to 2019) is now 1.76%1. If this number holds, $50,000 today will be equivalent in buying power to $50,882.02 next year. The current inflation rate page gives more detail on the latest official inflation rates.
Cumulative price change | 1,387.55% |
Average inflation rate | 2.74% |
Converted amount ($50,000 base) | $743,774.57 |
Price difference ($50,000 base) | $693,774.57 |
CPI in 1919 | 17.300 |
CPI in 2019 | 257.346 |
Inflation in 1919 | 14.57% |
Inflation in 2019 | 1.76% |
This chart shows calculation of buying power equivalence, often referred to as "the value of a dollar" over time for $50,000 in 1919 (price index tracking began in 1635).
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:
Inflation can vary widely by city, even within the United States. Here's how some cities fared in 1919 to 2019 (figures shown are purchasing power equivalents of $50,000):
San Francisco, California experienced the highest rate of inflation during the 100 years between 1919 and 2019 (3.05%).
Atlanta, Georgia experienced the lowest rate of inflation during the 100 years between 1919 and 2019 (2.59%).
Note that some locations showing 0% inflation may have not yet reported latest data.
Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £50,000.00 in 1919 would be equivalent to £2,560,324.27 in 2019, an absolute change of £2,510,324.27 and a cumulative change of 5,020.65%.
In Canada, CA$50,000.00 in 1919 would be equivalent to CA$653,921.57 in 2019, an absolute change of CA$603,921.57 and a cumulative change of 1,207.84%.
Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $693,774.57 and total percent change of 1,387.55%.
CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1919 and 2019.
Compare these values to the overall average of 2.74% per year:
Category | Avg Inflation (%) | Total Inflation (%) | $50,000 in 1919 → 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Food and beverages | 3.91 | 4,552.28 | 2,326,139.49 |
Housing | 4.23 | 6,194.19 | 3,147,095.25 |
Apparel | 1.20 | 230.35 | 165,175.31 |
Transportation | 3.26 | 2,374.05 | 1,237,024.42 |
Medical care | 5.13 | 14,761.13 | 7,430,565.07 |
Recreation | 1.09 | 195.03 | 147,514.22 |
Education and communication | 1.84 | 522.14 | 311,071.17 |
Other goods and services | 5.03 | 13,457.15 | 6,778,576.43 |
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 1919. This table and charts use the earliest available data for each category.
This inflation calculator uses the following inflation rate formula:
Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.S. CPI was 17.3 in the year 1919 and 257.346 in 2019:
$50,000 in 1919 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $743,774.57 in 2019.
To get the total inflation rate for the 100 years between 1919 and 2019, we use the following formula:
Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:
The average inflation rate of 2.74% has a compounding effect between 1919 and 2019. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 1,387.55% over 100 years.
To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $50,000 in the S&P 500 index in 1919, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $1,026,197,075.91 in 2019. This is a return on investment of 2,052,294.15%, with an absolute return of $1,026,147,075.91 on top of the original $50,000.
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 93.28% of returns ($957,211,315.83) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $50,000 investment is $68,935,760.08. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $58,595,396 for most people.
Original Amount | Final Amount | Change | |
---|---|---|---|
Nominal | $50,000 | $1,026,197,075.91 | 2,052,294.15% |
Real Inflation Adjusted |
$50,000 | $68,985,760.08 | 137,871.52% |
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 1919 to latest available data for 2019.
Politics and news often influence economic performance. Here's what was happening at the time:
Raw data for these calculations comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI), established in 1913. Inflation data from 1665 to 1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University.
You may use the following MLA citation for this page: “$50,000 in 1919 → 2019 | Inflation Calculator.” U.S. Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 5 Dec. 2019, https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1919?amount=50000.
Special thanks to QuickChart for providing downloadable chart images.
in2013dollars.com is a reference website maintained by the Official Data Foundation.
Cumulative price change | 1,387.55% |
Average inflation rate | 2.74% |
Converted amount ($50,000 base) | $743,774.57 |
Price difference ($50,000 base) | $693,774.57 |
CPI in 1919 | 17.300 |
CPI in 2019 | 257.346 |
Inflation in 1919 | 14.57% |
Inflation in 2019 | 1.76% |