$100 in 1927 is worth $1,751 in 2023,
because prices increased 1651.2% over that period, an average of
3.03% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$1,751
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1651.2%
Average inflation rate
3.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,751
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,651
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1927 → 2023
$1,751
$100 in 2023 → 1927
$5.71
What happened to prices between 1927 and 2023
Between 1927 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1651.2%, which works out to an average of
3.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2023: the 1927 dollar
lost 94.3% of its purchasing power over
these 96 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 2023 at the same ratio, 17.51: $1,000 becomes
$17,512, and $10,000 becomes $175,116.
Amount in 1927
Value in 2023
$1.00
$17.51
$5.00
$87.56
$10.00
$175
$20.00
$350
$50.00
$876
$100
$1,751
$500
$8,756
$1,000
$17,512
$5,000
$87,558
$10,000
$175,116
$100,000
$1,751,161
$1,000,000
$17,511,609
Inflation by spending category, 1927–2023
Between 1927 and 2023, food rose the most, up 1869.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 416.1%, against 1651.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.03%
$1,751
Food
3.15%
$1,969
Apparel
1.72%
$516
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 2023
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 1927–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,487
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$1,751
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $348 by
1977, on its way to $1,751 in 2023; 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $1,751; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1927 to 2023: $100 is worth $1,751 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-2023/