$100 in 1926 is worth $466 in 1980,
because prices increased 365.5% over that period, an average of
2.89% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$466
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
365.5%
Average inflation rate
2.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$466
Price difference ($100 base)
$366
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1926 → 1980
$466
$100 in 1980 → 1926
$21.48
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1980
Between 1926 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 365.5%, which works out to an average of
2.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1980: the 1926 dollar
lost 78.5% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 1980 at the same ratio, 4.66: $1,000 becomes
$4,655, and $10,000 becomes $46,554.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1980
$1.00
$4.66
$5.00
$23.28
$10.00
$46.55
$20.00
$93.11
$50.00
$233
$100
$466
$500
$2,328
$1,000
$4,655
$5,000
$23,277
$10,000
$46,554
$100,000
$465,537
$1,000,000
$4,655,367
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1980
Between 1926 and 1980, food rose the most, up 410.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 251.0%, against 365.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.89%
$466
Food
3.07%
$511
Apparel
2.35%
$351
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 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1926–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$466
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $150 by
1952, on its way to $466 in 1980; 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: 1980
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $466; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1980: $100 is worth $466 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1980/