$100 in 1926 is worth $608 in 1985,
because prices increased 507.9% over that period, an average of
3.11% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$608
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
507.9%
Average inflation rate
3.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$608
Price difference ($100 base)
$508
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1926 → 1985
$608
$100 in 1985 → 1926
$16.45
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1985
Between 1926 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 507.9%, which works out to an average of
3.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1985: the 1926 dollar
lost 83.6% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 1985 at the same ratio, 6.08: $1,000 becomes
$6,079, and $10,000 becomes $60,791.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1985
$1.00
$6.08
$5.00
$30.40
$10.00
$60.79
$20.00
$122
$50.00
$304
$100
$608
$500
$3,040
$1,000
$6,079
$5,000
$30,395
$10,000
$60,791
$100,000
$607,910
$1,000,000
$6,079,096
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1985
Between 1926 and 1985, food rose the most, up 521.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 305.4%, against 507.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.11%
$608
Food
3.14%
$621
Apparel
2.40%
$405
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 1985
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 1926–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$608
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $154 by
1956, on its way to $608 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $608; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1985: $100 is worth $608 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1985/