$100 in 1928 is worth $215 in 1969,
because prices increased 114.6% over that period, an average of
1.88% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$215
in 1969
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
114.6%
Average inflation rate
1.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$215
Price difference ($100 base)
$115
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1969
36.7
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1969
5.46%
$100 in 1928 → 1969
$215
$100 in 1969 → 1928
$46.59
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1969
Between 1928 and 1969, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 36.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 114.6%, which works out to an average of
1.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.47 buys in 1969: the 1928 dollar
lost 53.4% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1969 at the same ratio, 2.15: $1,000 becomes
$2,146, and $10,000 becomes $21,462.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1969
$1.00
$2.15
$5.00
$10.73
$10.00
$21.46
$20.00
$42.92
$50.00
$107
$100
$215
$500
$1,073
$1,000
$2,146
$5,000
$10,731
$10,000
$21,462
$100,000
$214,620
$1,000,000
$2,146,199
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1969
Between 1928 and 1969, food rose the most, up 127.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 127.2%, against 114.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1969, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.88%
$215
Food
2.03%
$228
Apparel
2.02%
$227
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 1969
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 1928–1969 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
1960–1969
2.42%
24.0%
$215
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $141 by
1948, on its way to $215 in 1969; 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: 1969
In 1969, prices rose 5.5% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $215; the year's average CPI of 36.7 is the level
behind every 1969 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.5% in 1969, up from 1968’s 4.2% and
the fastest pace since the Korean War era, as years of Vietnam War
spending, a labor market with unemployment under 4%, and expansionary
fiscal policy finally showed up fully in prices. Richard Nixon was
inaugurated that January 20, pledging to curb rising prices without wage
and price controls, a position he would reverse within two years. The
decade’s most triumphant moment came that July 20, when Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon while Michael Collins orbited above,
fulfilling the goal Kennedy had set in 1961 of landing a man on the lunar
surface before the decade’s end. Culture and protest both reached new
extremes that year: an estimated 400,000 people gathered on a dairy farm
in Bethel, New York, for the Woodstock music festival that August, and a
police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village that
June touched off days of resistance now credited with launching the
modern gay rights movement. Consumer prices finished the decade 270.7%
above their 1913 level, up 24.0% from where they stood in
1960. The 1960s had opened with inflation near 1% a year and closed with
prices rising faster than at any point since Korea, setting up the Great
Inflation that would define the
1970s. First-class postage held at 6 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at $1.60 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1969: $100 is worth $215 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1969/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1969. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1969/