$100 in 1927 is worth $806 in 1992,
because prices increased 706.3% over that period, an average of
3.26% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$806
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
706.3%
Average inflation rate
3.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$806
Price difference ($100 base)
$706
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1927 → 1992
$806
$100 in 1992 → 1927
$12.40
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1992
Between 1927 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 706.3%, which works out to an average of
3.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1992: the 1927 dollar
lost 87.6% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 1992 at the same ratio, 8.06: $1,000 becomes
$8,063, and $10,000 becomes $80,632.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1992
$1.00
$8.06
$5.00
$40.32
$10.00
$80.63
$20.00
$161
$50.00
$403
$100
$806
$500
$4,032
$1,000
$8,063
$5,000
$40,316
$10,000
$80,632
$100,000
$806,322
$1,000,000
$8,063,218
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1992
Between 1927 and 1992, food rose the most, up 740.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 421.3%, against 706.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.26%
$806
Food
3.33%
$841
Apparel
2.57%
$521
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 1992
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 1927–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$806
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $161 by
1957, on its way to $806 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $806; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1992: $100 is worth $806 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1992/