$100 in 1926 is worth $514 in 1981,
because prices increased 413.6% over that period, an average of
3.02% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$514
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
413.6%
Average inflation rate
3.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$514
Price difference ($100 base)
$414
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1926 → 1981
$514
$100 in 1981 → 1926
$19.47
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1981
Between 1926 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 413.6%, which works out to an average of
3.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.19 buys in 1981: the 1926 dollar
lost 80.5% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 1981 at the same ratio, 5.14: $1,000 becomes
$5,136, and $10,000 becomes $51,356.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1981
$1.00
$5.14
$5.00
$25.68
$10.00
$51.36
$20.00
$103
$50.00
$257
$100
$514
$500
$2,568
$1,000
$5,136
$5,000
$25,678
$10,000
$51,356
$100,000
$513,559
$1,000,000
$5,135,593
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1981
Between 1926 and 1981, food rose the most, up 450.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 268.0%, against 413.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.02%
$514
Food
3.15%
$551
Apparel
2.40%
$368
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1926–1981 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
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$514
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $152 by
1954, on its way to $514 in 1981; 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: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $514; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1981: $100 is worth $514 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1981/