$100 in 1928 is worth $315 in 1975,
because prices increased 214.6% over that period, an average of
2.47% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$315
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
214.6%
Average inflation rate
2.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$315
Price difference ($100 base)
$215
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1928 → 1975
$315
$100 in 1975 → 1928
$31.78
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1975
Between 1928 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 214.6%, which works out to an average of
2.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1975: the 1928 dollar
lost 68.2% of its purchasing power over
these 47 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 1975 at the same ratio, 3.15: $1,000 becomes
$3,146, and $10,000 becomes $31,462.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1975
$1.00
$3.15
$5.00
$15.73
$10.00
$31.46
$20.00
$62.92
$50.00
$157
$100
$315
$500
$1,573
$1,000
$3,146
$5,000
$15,731
$10,000
$31,462
$100,000
$314,620
$1,000,000
$3,146,199
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1975
Between 1928 and 1975, food rose the most, up 266.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 190.0%, against 214.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.47%
$315
Food
2.80%
$367
Apparel
2.29%
$290
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 1975
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.76% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1975 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$227
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$315
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $155 by
1952, on its way to $315 in 1975; 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: 1975
In 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $315; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1975: $100 is worth $315 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1975/