$100 in 1927 is worth $186 in 1966,
because prices increased 86.2% over that period, an average of
1.61% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$186
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
86.2%
Average inflation rate
1.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$186
Price difference ($100 base)
$86.21
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1927 → 1966
$186
$100 in 1966 → 1927
$53.70
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1966
Between 1927 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 86.2%, which works out to an average of
1.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1966: the 1927 dollar
lost 46.3% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1966 at the same ratio, 1.86: $1,000 becomes
$1,862, and $10,000 becomes $18,621.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.86
$5.00
$9.31
$10.00
$18.62
$20.00
$37.24
$50.00
$93.10
$100
$186
$500
$931
$1,000
$1,862
$5,000
$9,310
$10,000
$18,621
$100,000
$186,207
$1,000,000
$1,862,069
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1966
Between 1927 and 1966, food rose the most, up 106.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 93.7%, against 86.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.61%
$186
Food
1.87%
$206
Apparel
1.71%
$194
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 1966
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 1927–1966 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$170
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$186
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $128 by
1947, on its way to $186 in 1966; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1966
In 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $186; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1966: $100 is worth $186 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1966/