$100 in 1926 is worth $342 in 1977,
because prices increased 242.4% over that period, an average of
2.44% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$342
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
242.4%
Average inflation rate
2.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$342
Price difference ($100 base)
$242
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1926 → 1977
$342
$100 in 1977 → 1926
$29.21
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1977
Between 1926 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 242.4%, which works out to an average of
2.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1977: the 1926 dollar
lost 70.8% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1977 at the same ratio, 3.42: $1,000 becomes
$3,424, and $10,000 becomes $34,237.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1977
$1.00
$3.42
$5.00
$17.12
$10.00
$34.24
$20.00
$68.47
$50.00
$171
$100
$342
$500
$1,712
$1,000
$3,424
$5,000
$17,119
$10,000
$34,237
$100,000
$342,373
$1,000,000
$3,423,729
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1977
Between 1926 and 1977, food rose the most, up 285.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 203.5%, against 242.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.44%
$342
Food
2.68%
$385
Apparel
2.20%
$303
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 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1926–1977 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
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$342
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $150 by
1952, on its way to $342 in 1977; 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: 1977
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $342; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1977: $100 is worth $342 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1977/