$100 in 1926 is worth $738 in 1990,
because prices increased 638.4% over that period, an average of
3.17% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$738
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
638.4%
Average inflation rate
3.17% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$738
Price difference ($100 base)
$638
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1926 → 1990
$738
$100 in 1990 → 1926
$13.54
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1990
Between 1926 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 638.4%, which works out to an average of
3.17% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1990: the 1926 dollar
lost 86.5% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 1990 at the same ratio, 7.38: $1,000 becomes
$7,384, and $10,000 becomes $73,842.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1990
$1.00
$7.38
$5.00
$36.92
$10.00
$73.84
$20.00
$148
$50.00
$369
$100
$738
$500
$3,692
$1,000
$7,384
$5,000
$36,921
$10,000
$73,842
$100,000
$738,418
$1,000,000
$7,384,181
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1990
Between 1926 and 1990, food rose the most, up 678.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 379.2%, against 638.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.17%
$738
Food
3.26%
$779
Apparel
2.48%
$479
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 1990
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 1926–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$738
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $154 by
1956, on its way to $738 in 1990; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $738; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1990: $100 is worth $738 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1990/