$100 in 1927 is worth $751 in 1990,
because prices increased 651.1% over that period, an average of
3.25% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$751
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
651.1%
Average inflation rate
3.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$751
Price difference ($100 base)
$651
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1927 → 1990
$751
$100 in 1990 → 1927
$13.31
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1990
Between 1927 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 651.1%, which works out to an average of
3.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1990: the 1927 dollar
lost 86.7% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 1990 at the same ratio, 7.51: $1,000 becomes
$7,511, and $10,000 becomes $75,115.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1990
$1.00
$7.51
$5.00
$37.56
$10.00
$75.11
$20.00
$150
$50.00
$376
$100
$751
$500
$3,756
$1,000
$7,511
$5,000
$37,557
$10,000
$75,115
$100,000
$751,149
$1,000,000
$7,511,494
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1990
Between 1927 and 1990, food rose the most, up 707.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 390.5%, against 651.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.25%
$751
Food
3.37%
$807
Apparel
2.56%
$491
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 1990
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 1927–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$751
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $161 by
1957, on its way to $751 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $751; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1990: $100 is worth $751 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1990/