$100 in 1926 is worth $279 in 1974,
because prices increased 178.5% over that period, an average of
2.16% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$279
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
178.5%
Average inflation rate
2.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$279
Price difference ($100 base)
$179
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1926 → 1974
$279
$100 in 1974 → 1926
$35.90
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1974
Between 1926 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 178.5%, which works out to an average of
2.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.36 buys in 1974: the 1926 dollar
lost 64.1% of its purchasing power over
these 48 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1974 at the same ratio, 2.79: $1,000 becomes
$2,785, and $10,000 becomes $27,853.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1974
$1.00
$2.79
$5.00
$13.93
$10.00
$27.85
$20.00
$55.71
$50.00
$139
$100
$279
$500
$1,393
$1,000
$2,785
$5,000
$13,927
$10,000
$27,853
$100,000
$278,531
$1,000,000
$2,785,311
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1974
Between 1926 and 1974, food rose the most, up 224.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 168.0%, against 178.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.16%
$279
Food
2.48%
$324
Apparel
2.07%
$268
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 to 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1926–1974 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$136
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$167
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$219
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$279
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $136 by
1950, on its way to $279 in 1974; 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: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $279; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1974: $100 is worth $279 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1974/