$100 in 1927 is worth $1,320 in 2012,
because prices increased 1219.5% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,320
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1219.5%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,320
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,220
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1927 → 2012
$1,320
$100 in 2012 → 1927
$7.58
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2012
Between 1927 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1219.5%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2012: the 1927 dollar
lost 92.4% of its purchasing power over
these 85 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 2012 at the same ratio, 13.20: $1,000 becomes
$13,195, and $10,000 becomes $131,951.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2012
$1.00
$13.20
$5.00
$65.98
$10.00
$132
$20.00
$264
$50.00
$660
$100
$1,320
$500
$6,598
$1,000
$13,195
$5,000
$65,975
$10,000
$131,951
$100,000
$1,319,506
$1,000,000
$13,195,057
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2012
Between 1927 and 2012, food rose the most, up 1325.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 399.1%, against 1219.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$1,320
Food
3.18%
$1,425
Apparel
1.91%
$499
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 2012
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 1927–2012 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,253
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,320
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $192 by
1967, on its way to $1,320 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,320; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,320 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2012/