$100 in 1927 is worth $1,361 in 2014,
because prices increased 1260.6% over that period, an average of
3.05% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,361
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1260.6%
Average inflation rate
3.05% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,361
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,261
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1927 → 2014
$1,361
$100 in 2014 → 1927
$7.35
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2014
Between 1927 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1260.6%, which works out to an average of
3.05% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2014: the 1927 dollar
lost 92.7% of its purchasing power over
these 87 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 2014 at the same ratio, 13.61: $1,000 becomes
$13,606, and $10,000 becomes $136,055.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2014
$1.00
$13.61
$5.00
$68.03
$10.00
$136
$20.00
$272
$50.00
$680
$100
$1,361
$500
$6,803
$1,000
$13,606
$5,000
$68,028
$10,000
$136,055
$100,000
$1,360,552
$1,000,000
$13,605,517
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2014
Between 1927 and 2014, food rose the most, up 1380.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 404.0%, against 1260.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.05%
$1,361
Food
3.15%
$1,480
Apparel
1.88%
$504
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 2014
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 1927–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,361
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $240 by
1972, on its way to $1,361 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,361; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,361 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2014/