$100 in 1927 is worth $876 in 1995,
because prices increased 775.9% over that period, an average of
3.24% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$876
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
775.9%
Average inflation rate
3.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$876
Price difference ($100 base)
$776
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1927 → 1995
$876
$100 in 1995 → 1927
$11.42
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1995
Between 1927 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 775.9%, which works out to an average of
3.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1995: the 1927 dollar
lost 88.6% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 1995 at the same ratio, 8.76: $1,000 becomes
$8,759, and $10,000 becomes $87,586.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1995
$1.00
$8.76
$5.00
$43.79
$10.00
$87.59
$20.00
$175
$50.00
$438
$100
$876
$500
$4,379
$1,000
$8,759
$5,000
$43,793
$10,000
$87,586
$100,000
$875,862
$1,000,000
$8,758,621
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1995
Between 1927 and 1995, food rose the most, up 804.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 421.7%, against 775.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.24%
$876
Food
3.29%
$905
Apparel
2.46%
$522
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 1995
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 1927–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$876
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $174 by
1962, on its way to $876 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $876; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1995: $100 is worth $876 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1995/