$100 in 1928 is worth $184 in 1965,
because prices increased 84.2% over that period, an average of
1.66% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$184
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
84.2%
Average inflation rate
1.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$184
Price difference ($100 base)
$84.21
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1928 → 1965
$184
$100 in 1965 → 1928
$54.29
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1965
Between 1928 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 84.2%, which works out to an average of
1.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1965: the 1928 dollar
lost 45.7% of its purchasing power over
these 37 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1928, the second straight year of mild decline
even as the stock market climbed sharply, a widening gap between asset
prices and the cost of living that later economists pointed to as an early
warning sign. The Federal Reserve tightened policy repeatedly over the year,
raising its discount rate in an effort to slow the flood of borrowed money
pouring into stock purchases without derailing the broader economy, a
balancing act it ultimately failed to manage. Herbert Hoover won the
presidential election that November, defeating Democrat Al Smith on a
platform built around continuing the prosperity of the Coolidge years; few
voters or policymakers anticipated how quickly that prosperity would end.
First-class postage remained at 2 cents, a price that had now held for nine
straight years.
Every 1928 amount converts to 1965 at the same ratio, 1.84: $1,000 becomes
$1,842, and $10,000 becomes $18,421.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1965
$1.00
$1.84
$5.00
$9.21
$10.00
$18.42
$20.00
$36.84
$50.00
$92.11
$100
$184
$500
$921
$1,000
$1,842
$5,000
$9,211
$10,000
$18,421
$100,000
$184,211
$1,000,000
$1,842,105
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1965
Between 1928 and 1965, food rose the most, up 97.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 91.2%, against 84.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.66%
$184
Food
1.86%
$198
Apparel
1.77%
$191
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1928: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1928 to 1965
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1965 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1928, at end
1928–1930
-1.18%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$184
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $114 by
1946, on its way to $184 in 1965; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1965
In 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $184; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1965: $100 is worth $184 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1965/