$100 in 1927 is worth $680 in 1988,
because prices increased 579.9% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$680
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
579.9%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$680
Price difference ($100 base)
$580
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1927 → 1988
$680
$100 in 1988 → 1927
$14.71
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1988
Between 1927 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 579.9%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1988: the 1927 dollar
lost 85.3% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1988 at the same ratio, 6.80: $1,000 becomes
$6,799, and $10,000 becomes $67,989.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1988
$1.00
$6.80
$5.00
$33.99
$10.00
$67.99
$20.00
$136
$50.00
$340
$100
$680
$500
$3,399
$1,000
$6,799
$5,000
$33,994
$10,000
$67,989
$100,000
$679,885
$1,000,000
$6,798,851
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1988
Between 1927 and 1988, food rose the most, up 620.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 356.1%, against 579.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$680
Food
3.29%
$721
Apparel
2.52%
$456
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 1988
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 1927–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$680
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $161 by
1957, on its way to $680 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $680; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1988: $100 is worth $680 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1988/