$100 in 1927 is worth $155 in 1954,
because prices increased 54.6% over that period, an average of
1.63% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$155
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
54.6%
Average inflation rate
1.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$155
Price difference ($100 base)
$54.60
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1927 → 1954
$155
$100 in 1954 → 1927
$64.68
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1954
Between 1927 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 54.6%, which works out to an average of
1.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.65 buys in 1954: the 1927 dollar
lost 35.3% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1954 at the same ratio, 1.55: $1,000 becomes
$1,546, and $10,000 becomes $15,460.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1954
$1.00
$1.55
$5.00
$7.73
$10.00
$15.46
$20.00
$30.92
$50.00
$77.30
$100
$155
$500
$773
$1,000
$1,546
$5,000
$7,730
$10,000
$15,460
$100,000
$154,598
$1,000,000
$1,545,977
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1954
Between 1927 and 1954, food rose the most, up 72.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 70.4%, against 54.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.63%
$155
Food
2.03%
$172
Apparel
1.99%
$170
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 1954
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 1927–1954 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
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$155
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $80.46 by
1940, on its way to $155 in 1954; 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 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $155; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1954: $100 is worth $155 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1954/