$100 in 1927 is worth $1,469 in 2019,
because prices increased 1369.3% over that period, an average of
2.96% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,469
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1369.3%
Average inflation rate
2.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,469
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,369
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1927 → 2019
$1,469
$100 in 2019 → 1927
$6.81
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2019
Between 1927 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1369.3%, which works out to an average of
2.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2019: the 1927 dollar
lost 93.2% of its purchasing power over
these 92 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 2019 at the same ratio, 14.69: $1,000 becomes
$14,693, and $10,000 becomes $146,929.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2019
$1.00
$14.69
$5.00
$73.46
$10.00
$147
$20.00
$294
$50.00
$735
$100
$1,469
$500
$7,346
$1,000
$14,693
$5,000
$73,465
$10,000
$146,929
$100,000
$1,469,293
$1,000,000
$14,692,931
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2019
Between 1927 and 2019, food rose the most, up 1475.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 390.3%, against 1369.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.96%
$1,469
Food
3.04%
$1,575
Apparel
1.74%
$490
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 2019
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 1927–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,469
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $240 by
1972, on its way to $1,469 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,469; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,469 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2019/