$100 in 1927 is worth $139 in 1950,
because prices increased 38.5% over that period, an average of
1.43% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$139
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
38.5%
Average inflation rate
1.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$139
Price difference ($100 base)
$38.51
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1927 → 1950
$139
$100 in 1950 → 1927
$72.20
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1950
Between 1927 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 38.5%, which works out to an average of
1.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.72 buys in 1950: the 1927 dollar
lost 27.8% of its purchasing power over
these 23 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1927, a mild retreat after three years of
gradual increases and part of a shallow up-and-down pattern that ran through
the second half of the decade. Aviation delivered the year’s signature
moment: Charles Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field, New York, on May 20 and
landed at Le Bourget Field outside Paris roughly 33.5 hours later, the first
person to fly the Atlantic solo and nonstop. Detroit closed a chapter of its
own that May, when Ford halted the Model T’s production line after nearly 19
years and more than 15 million cars sold, idling tens of thousands of
workers while its factories retooled for the Model A. The Federal Reserve,
meeting with European central bankers that summer, cut its discount rate to
ease pressure on currencies still recovering from the war, a move later
cited by economists including Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz as fuel for
the stock market speculation that built through the following two years.
First-class postage held at 2 cents.
Every 1927 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.39: $1,000 becomes
$1,385, and $10,000 becomes $13,851.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.39
$5.00
$6.93
$10.00
$13.85
$20.00
$27.70
$50.00
$69.25
$100
$139
$500
$693
$1,000
$1,385
$5,000
$6,925
$10,000
$13,851
$100,000
$138,506
$1,000,000
$1,385,057
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1950
Between 1927 and 1950, apparel rose the most, up 59.3%, while food rose the least, up 54.9%, against 38.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.43%
$139
Apparel
2.04%
$159
Food
1.92%
$155
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1927: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1927 to 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1927–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1927, at end
1927–1930
-1.36%
-4.0%
$95.98
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$80.46
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$139
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $81.03 by
1938, on its way to $139 in 1950; 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.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $139; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1950: $100 is worth $139 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1950/