$100 in 1926 is worth $321 in 1976,
because prices increased 221.5% over that period, an average of
2.36% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$321
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
221.5%
Average inflation rate
2.36% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$321
Price difference ($100 base)
$221
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1926 → 1976
$321
$100 in 1976 → 1926
$31.11
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1976
Between 1926 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 221.5%, which works out to an average of
2.36% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1976: the 1926 dollar
lost 68.9% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 1976 at the same ratio, 3.21: $1,000 becomes
$3,215, and $10,000 becomes $32,147.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1976
$1.00
$3.21
$5.00
$16.07
$10.00
$32.15
$20.00
$64.29
$50.00
$161
$100
$321
$500
$1,607
$1,000
$3,215
$5,000
$16,073
$10,000
$32,147
$100,000
$321,469
$1,000,000
$3,214,689
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1976
Between 1926 and 1976, food rose the most, up 262.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 190.3%, against 221.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.36%
$321
Food
2.61%
$362
Apparel
2.15%
$290
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 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 1926–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$321
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $136 by
1950, on its way to $321 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 1926 had the buying
power of $321; 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 1926 to 1976: $100 is worth $321 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1976/