$100 in 1926 is worth $1,316 in 2013,
because prices increased 1216.1% over that period, an average of
3.01% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$1,316
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1216.1%
Average inflation rate
3.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,316
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,216
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1926 → 2013
$1,316
$100 in 2013 → 1926
$7.60
What happened to prices between 1926 and 2013
Between 1926 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1216.1%, which works out to an average of
3.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2013: the 1926 dollar
lost 92.4% of its purchasing power over
these 87 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 2013 at the same ratio, 13.16: $1,000 becomes
$13,161, and $10,000 becomes $131,614.
Amount in 1926
Value in 2013
$1.00
$13.16
$5.00
$65.81
$10.00
$132
$20.00
$263
$50.00
$658
$100
$1,316
$500
$6,581
$1,000
$13,161
$5,000
$65,807
$10,000
$131,614
$100,000
$1,316,141
$1,000,000
$13,161,412
Inflation by spending category, 1926–2013
Between 1926 and 2013, food rose the most, up 1294.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 391.9%, against 1216.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.01%
$1,316
Food
3.08%
$1,394
Apparel
1.85%
$492
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 2013
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 1926–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,232
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,316
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $229 by
1971, on its way to $1,316 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $1,316; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,316 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-2013/