$100 in 1927 is worth $783 in 1991,
because prices increased 682.8% over that period, an average of
3.27% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$783
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
682.8%
Average inflation rate
3.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$783
Price difference ($100 base)
$683
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1927 → 1991
$783
$100 in 1991 → 1927
$12.78
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1991
Between 1927 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 682.8%, which works out to an average of
3.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1991: the 1927 dollar
lost 87.2% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 1991 at the same ratio, 7.83: $1,000 becomes
$7,828, and $10,000 becomes $78,276.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1991
$1.00
$7.83
$5.00
$39.14
$10.00
$78.28
$20.00
$157
$50.00
$391
$100
$783
$500
$3,914
$1,000
$7,828
$5,000
$39,138
$10,000
$78,276
$100,000
$782,759
$1,000,000
$7,827,586
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1991
Between 1927 and 1991, food rose the most, up 731.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 408.7%, against 682.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.27%
$783
Food
3.36%
$831
Apparel
2.57%
$509
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 1991
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 1927–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$783
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $161 by
1957, on its way to $783 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $783; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1991: $100 is worth $783 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1991/