$100 in 1927 is worth $937 in 1998,
because prices increased 836.8% over that period, an average of
3.20% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$937
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
836.8%
Average inflation rate
3.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$937
Price difference ($100 base)
$837
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1927 → 1998
$937
$100 in 1998 → 1927
$10.67
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1998
Between 1927 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 836.8%, which works out to an average of
3.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1998: the 1927 dollar
lost 89.3% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 1998 at the same ratio, 9.37: $1,000 becomes
$9,368, and $10,000 becomes $93,678.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1998
$1.00
$9.37
$5.00
$46.84
$10.00
$93.68
$20.00
$187
$50.00
$468
$100
$937
$500
$4,684
$1,000
$9,368
$5,000
$46,839
$10,000
$93,678
$100,000
$936,782
$1,000,000
$9,367,816
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1998
Between 1927 and 1998, food rose the most, up 879.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 425.7%, against 836.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.20%
$937
Food
3.27%
$980
Apparel
2.36%
$526
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 1998
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 1927–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$937
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $174 by
1962, on its way to $937 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $937; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 1998: $100 is worth $937 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1998/