$100 in 1926 is worth $1,356 in 2016,
because prices increased 1256.0% over that period, an average of
2.94% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$1,356
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1256.0%
Average inflation rate
2.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,356
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,256
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1926 → 2016
$1,356
$100 in 2016 → 1926
$7.37
What happened to prices between 1926 and 2016
Between 1926 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1256.0%, which works out to an average of
2.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2016: the 1926 dollar
lost 92.6% of its purchasing power over
these 90 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 2016 at the same ratio, 13.56: $1,000 becomes
$13,560, and $10,000 becomes $135,597.
Amount in 1926
Value in 2016
$1.00
$13.56
$5.00
$67.80
$10.00
$136
$20.00
$271
$50.00
$678
$100
$1,356
$500
$6,780
$1,000
$13,560
$5,000
$67,799
$10,000
$135,597
$100,000
$1,355,972
$1,000,000
$13,559,718
Inflation by spending category, 1926–2016
Between 1926 and 2016, food rose the most, up 1358.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 386.7%, against 1256.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.94%
$1,356
Food
3.02%
$1,458
Apparel
1.77%
$487
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 2016
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 1926–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,356
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $229 by
1971, on its way to $1,356 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $1,356; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,356 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-2016/