Buying power of $120 in 1899

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for $120 in 1899 (price index tracking began in 1635).

For example, if you started with $120, you would need to end with $3.96 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When $120 is equivalent to $3.96 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 1899 dollars, the chart below shows how $120 is worth less over 119 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:

This conversion table shows various other 1899 amounts in 2018 dollars, based on the -96.70% change in prices:

Inflation by Country

Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £120.00 in 2018 would be equivalent to £0.96 in 1899, an absolute change of £-119.04 and a cumulative change of -99.20%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $-116.04 and total percent change of -96.70%.

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 2018 and 1899.

Compare these values to the overall average of 2.91% per year:

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 2018. This table and charts use the earliest available data for each category.

How to calculate inflation rate for $120, 1899 to 2018

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1899 and 2018:

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.S. CPI was 251.23 in the year 2018 and 8.3 in 1899:

$120 in 2018 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $3.96 in 1899.

To get the total inflation rate for the 119 years between 1899 and 2018, we use the following formula:

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

Data source & citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (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.

» Read more about inflation and investment.