$100 in 1927 is worth $1,443 in 2018,
because prices increased 1343.1% over that period, an average of
2.98% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,443
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1343.1%
Average inflation rate
2.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,443
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,343
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1927 → 2018
$1,443
$100 in 2018 → 1927
$6.93
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2018
Between 1927 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1343.1%, which works out to an average of
2.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2018: the 1927 dollar
lost 93.1% of its purchasing power over
these 91 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 2018 at the same ratio, 14.43: $1,000 becomes
$14,431, and $10,000 becomes $144,314.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2018
$1.00
$14.43
$5.00
$72.16
$10.00
$144
$20.00
$289
$50.00
$722
$100
$1,443
$500
$7,216
$1,000
$14,431
$5,000
$72,157
$10,000
$144,314
$100,000
$1,443,144
$1,000,000
$14,431,437
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2018
Between 1927 and 2018, food rose the most, up 1446.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 396.7%, against 1343.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.98%
$1,443
Food
3.05%
$1,546
Apparel
1.78%
$497
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 2018
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 1927–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$1,443
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $240 by
1972, on its way to $1,443 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,443; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2018: $100 is worth $1,443 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2018/