$100 in 1927 is worth $902 in 1996,
because prices increased 801.7% over that period, an average of
3.24% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$902
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
801.7%
Average inflation rate
3.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$902
Price difference ($100 base)
$802
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1927 → 1996
$902
$100 in 1996 → 1927
$11.09
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1996
Between 1927 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 801.7%, which works out to an average of
3.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1996: the 1927 dollar
lost 88.9% of its purchasing power over
these 69 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 1996 at the same ratio, 9.02: $1,000 becomes
$9,017, and $10,000 becomes $90,172.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1996
$1.00
$9.02
$5.00
$45.09
$10.00
$90.17
$20.00
$180
$50.00
$451
$100
$902
$500
$4,509
$1,000
$9,017
$5,000
$45,086
$10,000
$90,172
$100,000
$901,724
$1,000,000
$9,017,241
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1996
Between 1927 and 1996, food rose the most, up 834.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 420.6%, against 801.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.24%
$902
Food
3.29%
$935
Apparel
2.42%
$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 1996
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 1927–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$902
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $174 by
1962, on its way to $902 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $902; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1996: $100 is worth $902 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1996/