$100 in 1926 is worth $769 in 1991,
because prices increased 669.5% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$769
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
669.5%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$769
Price difference ($100 base)
$669
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1926 → 1991
$769
$100 in 1991 → 1926
$13.00
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1991
Between 1926 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 669.5%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1991: the 1926 dollar
lost 87.0% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 1991 at the same ratio, 7.69: $1,000 becomes
$7,695, and $10,000 becomes $76,949.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1991
$1.00
$7.69
$5.00
$38.47
$10.00
$76.95
$20.00
$154
$50.00
$385
$100
$769
$500
$3,847
$1,000
$7,695
$5,000
$38,475
$10,000
$76,949
$100,000
$769,492
$1,000,000
$7,694,915
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1991
Between 1926 and 1991, food rose the most, up 701.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 396.9%, against 669.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$769
Food
3.25%
$802
Apparel
2.50%
$497
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 1991
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 1926–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$769
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $154 by
1956, on its way to $769 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $769; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1991: $100 is worth $769 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1991/