$100 in 1927 is worth $1,018 in 2001,
because prices increased 917.8% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,018
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
917.8%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,018
Price difference ($100 base)
$918
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1927 → 2001
$1,018
$100 in 2001 → 1927
$9.82
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2001
Between 1927 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 917.8%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2001: the 1927 dollar
lost 90.2% of its purchasing power over
these 74 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 2001 at the same ratio, 10.18: $1,000 becomes
$10,178, and $10,000 becomes $101,782.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2001
$1.00
$10.18
$5.00
$50.89
$10.00
$102
$20.00
$204
$50.00
$509
$100
$1,018
$500
$5,089
$1,000
$10,178
$5,000
$50,891
$10,000
$101,782
$100,000
$1,017,816
$1,000,000
$10,178,161
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2001
Between 1927 and 2001, food rose the most, up 955.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 403.2%, against 917.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$1,018
Food
3.24%
$1,055
Apparel
2.21%
$503
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 2001
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 1927–2001 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$990
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,018
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $174 by
1962, on its way to $1,018 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,018; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,018 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2001/