Today's Conversion Rate

[corn-fed-erate]

When reading dollar amounts in the history books how would the value convert to today's money?

 

[AndyHall]

There are a lot of ways to convert historical values to current amounts, and none of them are especially good. That's due in part to the way economies have changed over the years. During the CW era, for example, most people generally spent a much bigger share of their income on food than we do today.

I recommend this website, which provides multiple ways to calculate values, and the pros and cons of each method:

https://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Andy's link is probably the best, but here's another one:
https://futureboy.us/fsp/dollar.fsp?quantity=1000&currency=dollars&fromYear=1860

 

[clayfeeter]

My understanding is that today's dollar is 30 times higher than an 1860 dollar

 

[mobile_96]

My understanding is that today's dollar is 30 times higher than an 1860 dollar

Frinks shows about 28.27 times for 1860 while showing about 1506 for 1864, showing the inflation drama of the era.