$100 in 1927 is worth $1,409 in 2017,
because prices increased 1308.7% over that period, an average of
2.98% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,409
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1308.7%
Average inflation rate
2.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,409
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,309
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1927 → 2017
$1,409
$100 in 2017 → 1927
$7.10
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2017
Between 1927 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1308.7%, which works out to an average of
2.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2017: the 1927 dollar
lost 92.9% of its purchasing power over
these 90 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 2017 at the same ratio, 14.09: $1,000 becomes
$14,087, and $10,000 becomes $140,874.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2017
$1.00
$14.09
$5.00
$70.44
$10.00
$141
$20.00
$282
$50.00
$704
$100
$1,409
$500
$7,044
$1,000
$14,087
$5,000
$70,437
$10,000
$140,874
$100,000
$1,408,736
$1,000,000
$14,087,356
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2017
Between 1927 and 2017, food rose the most, up 1424.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 396.5%, against 1308.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.98%
$1,409
Food
3.07%
$1,525
Apparel
1.80%
$496
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 2017
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 1927–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$1,409
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $240 by
1972, on its way to $1,409 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,409; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2017: $100 is worth $1,409 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2017/