$100 in 1927 is worth $1,192 in 2007,
because prices increased 1091.6% over that period, an average of
3.15% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,192
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1091.6%
Average inflation rate
3.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,192
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,092
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1927 → 2007
$1,192
$100 in 2007 → 1927
$8.39
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2007
Between 1927 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1091.6%, which works out to an average of
3.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2007: the 1927 dollar
lost 91.6% of its purchasing power over
these 80 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 2007 at the same ratio, 11.92: $1,000 becomes
$11,916, and $10,000 becomes $119,162.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2007
$1.00
$11.92
$5.00
$59.58
$10.00
$119
$20.00
$238
$50.00
$596
$100
$1,192
$500
$5,958
$1,000
$11,916
$5,000
$59,581
$10,000
$119,162
$100,000
$1,191,621
$1,000,000
$11,916,207
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2007
Between 1927 and 2007, food rose the most, up 1137.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 370.3%, against 1091.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.15%
$1,192
Food
3.19%
$1,237
Apparel
1.95%
$470
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 2007
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 1927–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$1,192
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $192 by
1967, on its way to $1,192 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,192; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2007: $100 is worth $1,192 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2007/