$100 in 1927 is worth $1,159 in 2006,
because prices increased 1058.6% over that period, an average of
3.15% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,159
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1058.6%
Average inflation rate
3.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,159
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,059
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1927 → 2006
$1,159
$100 in 2006 → 1927
$8.63
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2006
Between 1927 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1058.6%, which works out to an average of
3.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2006: the 1927 dollar
lost 91.4% of its purchasing power over
these 79 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 2006 at the same ratio, 11.59: $1,000 becomes
$11,586, and $10,000 becomes $115,862.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2006
$1.00
$11.59
$5.00
$57.93
$10.00
$116
$20.00
$232
$50.00
$579
$100
$1,159
$500
$5,793
$1,000
$11,586
$5,000
$57,931
$10,000
$115,862
$100,000
$1,158,621
$1,000,000
$11,586,207
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2006
Between 1927 and 2006, food rose the most, up 1090.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 372.3%, against 1058.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.15%
$1,159
Food
3.18%
$1,190
Apparel
1.98%
$472
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 2006
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 1927–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$1,159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $192 by
1967, on its way to $1,159 in 2006; 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: 2006
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,159; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2006: $100 is worth $1,159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2006/