$100 in 1927 is worth $852 in 1994,
because prices increased 751.7% over that period, an average of
3.25% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$852
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
751.7%
Average inflation rate
3.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$852
Price difference ($100 base)
$752
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1927 → 1994
$852
$100 in 1994 → 1927
$11.74
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1994
Between 1927 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 751.7%, which works out to an average of
3.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1994: the 1927 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 1994 at the same ratio, 8.52: $1,000 becomes
$8,517, and $10,000 becomes $85,172.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1994
$1.00
$8.52
$5.00
$42.59
$10.00
$85.17
$20.00
$170
$50.00
$426
$100
$852
$500
$4,259
$1,000
$8,517
$5,000
$42,586
$10,000
$85,172
$100,000
$851,724
$1,000,000
$8,517,241
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1994
Between 1927 and 1994, food rose the most, up 779.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 427.3%, against 751.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.25%
$852
Food
3.30%
$880
Apparel
2.51%
$527
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 1994
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 1927–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$852
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $174 by
1962, on its way to $852 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $852; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1994: $100 is worth $852 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1994/