$100 in 1926 is worth $907 in 1997,
because prices increased 806.8% over that period, an average of
3.15% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$907
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
806.8%
Average inflation rate
3.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$907
Price difference ($100 base)
$807
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1926 → 1997
$907
$100 in 1997 → 1926
$11.03
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1997
Between 1926 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 806.8%, which works out to an average of
3.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1997: the 1926 dollar
lost 89.0% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 1997 at the same ratio, 9.07: $1,000 becomes
$9,068, and $10,000 becomes $90,678.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1997
$1.00
$9.07
$5.00
$45.34
$10.00
$90.68
$20.00
$181
$50.00
$453
$100
$907
$500
$4,534
$1,000
$9,068
$5,000
$45,339
$10,000
$90,678
$100,000
$906,780
$1,000,000
$9,067,797
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1997
Between 1926 and 1997, food rose the most, up 825.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 413.1%, against 806.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.15%
$907
Food
3.18%
$925
Apparel
2.33%
$513
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 1997
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 1926–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$907
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $169 by
1961, on its way to $907 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $907; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1997: $100 is worth $907 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1997/