$100 in 1924 is worth $333 in 1976,
because prices increased 232.7% over that period, an average of
2.34% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$333
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
232.7%
Average inflation rate
2.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$333
Price difference ($100 base)
$233
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1924 → 1976
$333
$100 in 1976 → 1924
$30.05
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1976
Between 1924 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 232.7%, which works out to an average of
2.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1976: the 1924 dollar
lost 69.9% of its purchasing power over
these 52 years.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1924 amount converts to 1976 at the same ratio, 3.33: $1,000 becomes
$3,327, and $10,000 becomes $33,275.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1976
$1.00
$3.33
$5.00
$16.64
$10.00
$33.27
$20.00
$66.55
$50.00
$166
$100
$333
$500
$1,664
$1,000
$3,327
$5,000
$16,637
$10,000
$33,275
$100,000
$332,749
$1,000,000
$3,327,485
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1976
Between 1924 and 1976, food rose the most, up 305.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 180.6%, against 232.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.34%
$333
Food
2.73%
$405
Apparel
2.00%
$281
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1924: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1924 to 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1976 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$227
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$333
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $141 by
1950, on its way to $333 in 1976; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $333; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1976: $100 is worth $333 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1976/