$100 in 1927 is worth $1,034 in 2002,
because prices increased 933.9% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,034
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
933.9%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,034
Price difference ($100 base)
$934
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1927 → 2002
$1,034
$100 in 2002 → 1927
$9.67
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2002
Between 1927 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 933.9%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2002: the 1927 dollar
lost 90.3% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 2002 at the same ratio, 10.34: $1,000 becomes
$10,339, and $10,000 becomes $103,391.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2002
$1.00
$10.34
$5.00
$51.70
$10.00
$103
$20.00
$207
$50.00
$517
$100
$1,034
$500
$5,170
$1,000
$10,339
$5,000
$51,695
$10,000
$103,391
$100,000
$1,033,908
$1,000,000
$10,339,080
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2002
Between 1927 and 2002, food rose the most, up 974.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 390.1%, against 933.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$1,034
Food
3.22%
$1,074
Apparel
2.14%
$490
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 2002
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 1927–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$1,034
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $174 by
1962, on its way to $1,034 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,034; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2002: $100 is worth $1,034 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2002/