$100 in 1927 is worth $618 in 1985,
because prices increased 518.4% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$618
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
518.4%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$618
Price difference ($100 base)
$518
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1927 → 1985
$618
$100 in 1985 → 1927
$16.17
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1985
Between 1927 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 518.4%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1985: the 1927 dollar
lost 83.8% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 1985 at the same ratio, 6.18: $1,000 becomes
$6,184, and $10,000 becomes $61,839.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1985
$1.00
$6.18
$5.00
$30.92
$10.00
$61.84
$20.00
$124
$50.00
$309
$100
$618
$500
$3,092
$1,000
$6,184
$5,000
$30,920
$10,000
$61,839
$100,000
$618,391
$1,000,000
$6,183,908
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1985
Between 1927 and 1985, food rose the most, up 543.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 315.0%, against 518.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$618
Food
3.26%
$644
Apparel
2.48%
$415
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 1985
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 1927–1985 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$223
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$474
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$618
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $154 by
1955, on its way to $618 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $618; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1985: $100 is worth $618 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1985/