$100 in 1926 is worth $1,216 in 2008,
because prices increased 1116.4% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$1,216
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1116.4%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,216
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,116
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1926 → 2008
$1,216
$100 in 2008 → 1926
$8.22
What happened to prices between 1926 and 2008
Between 1926 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1116.4%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2008: the 1926 dollar
lost 91.8% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2008 at the same ratio, 12.16: $1,000 becomes
$12,164, and $10,000 becomes $121,640.
Amount in 1926
Value in 2008
$1.00
$12.16
$5.00
$60.82
$10.00
$122
$20.00
$243
$50.00
$608
$100
$1,216
$500
$6,082
$1,000
$12,164
$5,000
$60,820
$10,000
$121,640
$100,000
$1,216,401
$1,000,000
$12,164,011
Inflation by spending category, 1926–2008
Between 1926 and 2008, food rose the most, up 1159.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 359.1%, against 1116.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$1,216
Food
3.14%
$1,259
Apparel
1.88%
$459
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 2008
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 1926–2008 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$973
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,216
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $183 by
1966, on its way to $1,216 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $1,216; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,216 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-2008/