$100 in 1927 is worth $922 in 1997,
because prices increased 822.4% over that period, an average of
3.22% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$922
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
822.4%
Average inflation rate
3.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$922
Price difference ($100 base)
$822
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1927 → 1997
$922
$100 in 1997 → 1927
$10.84
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1997
Between 1927 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 822.4%, which works out to an average of
3.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1997: the 1927 dollar
lost 89.2% of its purchasing power over
these 70 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 1997 at the same ratio, 9.22: $1,000 becomes
$9,224, and $10,000 becomes $92,241.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1997
$1.00
$9.22
$5.00
$46.12
$10.00
$92.24
$20.00
$184
$50.00
$461
$100
$922
$500
$4,612
$1,000
$9,224
$5,000
$46,121
$10,000
$92,241
$100,000
$922,414
$1,000,000
$9,224,138
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1997
Between 1927 and 1997, food rose the most, up 859.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 425.3%, against 822.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.22%
$922
Food
3.28%
$959
Apparel
2.40%
$525
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 1997
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 1927–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$922
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $174 by
1962, on its way to $922 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $922; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1997: $100 is worth $922 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1997/