A Dollar's Worth, Then and Now

Two inflation calculators to compare dollar values of various years are here (1913 to 2009) and here (1800 to 2007). These are kind of fun if you compare the price of Great-grandfather's Model T to a Ford Focus, and depressing if you look at the wages you made in the 70's compared to what you make today.

This chart is calibrated for the value of a 1910 dollar and shows, roughly, the purchasing power of that dollar in other years. CPI = Consumer Price Index. You can access it and change the year values here.

year	CPI Avg	dollar value	inflation	history

1800	51.00	$0.549		--
1801	50.00	$0.560	-2
1802	43.00	$0.651	-14
1803	45.00	$0.622	4.7	Louisiana Purchase
1804	45.00	$0.622	0
1805	45.00	$0.622	0
1806	47.00	$0.596	4.4
1807	44.00	$0.636	-6.4
1808	48.00	$0.583	9.1
1809	47.00	$0.596	-2.1
1810	47.00	$0.596	0
1811	50.00	$0.560	6.4
1812	51.00	$0.549	2	War of 1812
1813	58.00	$0.483	13.7
1814	63.00	$0.444	8.6
1815	55.00	$0.509	-12.7	Napoleon defeated
1816	51.00	$0.549	-7.3
1817	48.00	$0.583	-5.9
1818	46.00	$0.609	-4.2
1819	46.00	$0.609	0
1820	42.00	$0.667	-8.7
1821	40.00	$0.700	-4.8
1822	40.00	$0.700	0
1823	36.00	$0.778	-10
1824	33.00	$0.848	-8.3
1825	34.00	$0.824	3
1826	34.00	$0.824	0
1827	34.00	$0.824	0	first railroad in U.S.
1828	33.00	$0.848	-2.9
1829	32.00	$0.875	-3
1830	32.00	$0.875	0
1831	32.00	$0.875	0
1832	30.00	$0.933	-6.3
1833	29.00	$0.966	-3.3
1834	30.00	$0.933	3.4
1835	31.00	$0.903	3.3
1836	33.00	$0.848	6.5	Colt's revolver
1837	34.00	$0.824	3
1838	32.00	$0.875	-5.9
1839	32.00	$0.875	0
1840	30.00	$0.933	-6.3
1841	31.00	$0.903	3.3
1842	29.00	$0.966	-6.5
1843	28.00	$1.000	-3.4
1844	28.00	$1.000	0
1845	28.00	$1.000	0
1846	27.00	$1.037	-3.6
1847	28.00	$1.000	3.7
1848	26.00	$1.077	-7.1
1849	25.00	$1.120	-3.8	California gold rush
1850	25.00	$1.120	0	end "little ice age" (~1350-1850) warm trend
1851	25.00	$1.120	0
1852	25.00	$1.120	0
1853	25.00	$1.120	0
1854	27.00	$1.037	8
1855	28.00	$1.000	3.7
1856	27.00	$1.037	-3.6
1857	28.00	$1.000	3.7
1858	26.00	$1.077	-7.1
1859	27.00	$1.037	3.8	Colorado gold rush
1860	27.00	$1.037	0
1861	27.00	$1.037	0	Civil War
1862	30.00	$0.933	11.1
1863	37.00	$0.757	23.3
1864	47.00	$0.596	27
1865	46.00	$0.609	-2.1	end Civil War
1866	44.00	$0.636	-4.3
1867	42.00	$0.667	-4.5
1868	40.00	$0.700	-4.8
1869	40.00	$0.700	0	Transcontinental Railroadcompleted
1870	38.00	$0.737	-5	Suez Canalcompleted
1871	36.00	$0.778	-5.3
1872	36.00	$0.778	0
1873	36.00	$0.778	0	"Long Depression" ~1873 -- ~1897
1874	34.00	$0.824	-5.6
1875	33.00	$0.848	-2.9
1876	32.00	$0.875	-3	A.G. Bell- telephone
1877	32.00	$0.875	0
1878	29.00	$0.966	-9.4
1879	28.00	$1.000	-3.4
1880	29.00	$0.966	3.6
1881	29.00	$0.966	0
1882	29.00	$0.966	0
1883	28.00	$1.000	-3.4
1884	27.00	$1.037	-3.6
1885	27.00	$1.037	0
1886	27.00	$1.037	0	gasoline automobilesin Europe
1887	27.00	$1.037	0
1888	27.00	$1.037	0
1889	27.00	$1.037	0
1890	27.00	$1.037	0
1891	27.00	$1.037	0
1892	27.00	$1.037	0
1893	27.00	$1.037	0
1894	26.00	$1.077	-3.7
1895	25.00	$1.120	-3.8	Marconi-- telegraph
1896	25.00	$1.120	0	Klondike gold rush; penicillin
1897	25.00	$1.120	0
1898	25.00	$1.120	0	end Spanish-American War
1899	25.00	$1.120	0
1900	25.00	$1.120	0
1901	25.00	$1.120	0
1902	26.00	$1.077	4	Oldsmobileproduction line
1903	27.00	$1.037	3.8
1904	27.00	$1.037	0
1905	27.00	$1.037	0
1906	27.00	$1.037	0
1907	28.00	$1.000	3.7
1908	27.00	$1.037	-3.6
1909	27.00	$1.037	0
1910	28.00	$1.000	3.7	Fordproductionline
1911	28.00	$1.000	0
1912	29.00	$0.966	3.6
1913	29.70	$0.943	2.4
1914	30.10	$0.930	1.3	WW-Ibegins
1915	30.40	$0.921	1
1916	32.70	$0.856	7.6
1917	38.40	$0.729	17.4	U.S. entersWW-I
1918	45.10	$0.621	17.4	end WW-I; influenza epidemic
1919	51.80	$0.541	14.9	influenza epidemic-- ( epidemic list)
1920	60.00	$0.467	15.8	recession
1921	53.60	$0.522	-10.7
1922	50.20	$0.558	-6.3
1923	51.10	$0.548	1.8
1924	51.20	$0.547	0.2
1925	52.50	$0.533	2.5
1926	53.00	$0.528	1
1927	52.00	$0.538	-1.9
1928	51.30	$0.546	-1.3
1929	51.30	$0.546	0	Great Depression-- through 1930's
1930	50.00	$0.560	-2.5
1931	45.60	$0.614	-8.8
1932	40.90	$0.685	-10.3	New Deal
1933	38.80	$0.722	-5.1	Third Reich
1934	40.10	$0.698	3.4
1935	41.10	$0.681	2.5
1936	41.50	$0.675	1
1937	43.00	$0.651	3.6	recession
1938	42.20	$0.664	-1.9
1939	41.60	$0.673	-1.4	invasion of Poland- WW-II
1940	42.00	$0.667	1
1941	44.10	$0.635	5	Pearl Harbor- U.S. in WW-II
1942	48.80	$0.574	10.7	baby boom (~1940 - 1957)
1943	51.80	$0.541	6.1
1944	52.70	$0.531	1.7
1945	53.90	$0.519	2.3	end WW-II
1946	58.50	$0.479	8.5	ENIAC -- computer
1947	66.90	$0.419	14.4
1948	72.10	$0.388	7.8
1949	71.40	$0.392	-1
1950	72.10	$0.388	1	Korean War
1951	77.80	$0.360	7.9
1952	79.50	$0.352	2.2
1953	80.10	$0.350	0.8	end Korean War
1954	80.50	$0.348	0.5
1955	80.20	$0.349	-0.4
1956	81.40	$0.344	1.5
1957	84.30	$0.332	3.6	baby boompeak
1958	86.60	$0.323	2.7	U.S. space programbegins
1959	87.30	$0.321	0.8	Integrated Circuit; Vietnam war
1960	88.70	$0.316	1.6
1961	89.60	$0.313	1
1962	90.60	$0.309	1.1
1963	91.70	$0.305	1.2
1964	92.90	$0.301	1.3
1965	94.50	$0.296	1.7
1966	97.20	$0.288	2.9
1967	100.00	$0.280	2.9
1968	104.20	$0.269	4.2
1969	109.80	$0.255	5.4
1970	116.30	$0.241	5.9
1971	121.30	$0.231	4.3
1972	125.30	$0.223	3.3
1973	133.10	$0.210	6.2	Arab oil embargo
1974	147.70	$0.190	11
1975	161.20	$0.174	9.1	personal computer; end Vietnam war
1976	170.50	$0.164	5.8
1977	181.50	$0.154	6.5
1978	195.40	$0.143	7.7
1979	217.40	$0.129	11.3	oil crisis-- Iranian revolution
1980	246.80	$0.113	13.5
1981	272.40	$0.103	10.4
1982	289.10	$0.097	6.1
1983	298.40	$0.094	3.2
1984	311.10	$0.090	4.3
1985	322.20	$0.087	3.6
1986	328.40	$0.085	1.8
1987	340.40	$0.082	3.6
1988	354.30	$0.079	4.1
1989	371.30	$0.075	4.8	Berlin Wall falls
1990	391.40	$0.072	5.4
1991	408.00	$0.069	4.2	USSR dissolved; Persian Gulf War
1992	420.30	$0.067	3
1993	432.70	$0.065	3
1994	444.00	$0.063	2.2
1995	456.50	$0.061	2.8
1996	469.90	$0.060	2.9
1997	480.80	$0.058	2.3
1998	488.30	$0.057	1.6
1999	499.10	$0.056	2.2
2000	515.80	$0.054	3.4
2001	530.10	$0.053	2.8	9-11 -- [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
2002	538.80	$0.052	1.6
2003	551.10	$0.051	2.3	Invasion of Iraq
2004	565.80	$0.049	2.7	oil price increases
2005*	584.90	$0.048	3.4

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