$100 in 1928 is worth $381 in 1978,
because prices increased 281.3% over that period, an average of
2.71% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$381
in 1978
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
281.3%
Average inflation rate
2.71% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$381
Price difference ($100 base)
$281
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1978
65.2
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1978
7.59%
$100 in 1928 → 1978
$381
$100 in 1978 → 1928
$26.23
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1978
Between 1928 and 1978, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 65.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 281.3%, which works out to an average of
2.71% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1978: the 1928 dollar
lost 73.8% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 1978 at the same ratio, 3.81: $1,000 becomes
$3,813, and $10,000 becomes $38,129.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1978
$1.00
$3.81
$5.00
$19.06
$10.00
$38.13
$20.00
$76.26
$50.00
$191
$100
$381
$500
$1,906
$1,000
$3,813
$5,000
$19,064
$10,000
$38,129
$100,000
$381,287
$1,000,000
$3,812,865
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1978
Between 1928 and 1978, food rose the most, up 341.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 225.6%, against 281.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1978, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.71%
$381
Food
3.02%
$442
Apparel
2.39%
$326
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 1978
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.70% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1978 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
1970–1978
6.70%
68.0%
$381
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $155 by
1952, on its way to $381 in 1978; 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: 1978
In 1978, prices rose 7.6% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $381; the year's average CPI of 65.2 is the level
behind every 1978 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 7.6% in 1978, accelerating for a second straight year as
rising wages, a weakening dollar, and climbing energy costs outpaced the
Federal Reserve’s response. Fed chairman G. William Miller, appointed by
Carter that March, kept interest rates too low to slow the trend, a policy
later cited as one reason inflation kept building toward the following year’s
crisis. California voters responded to their own version of the problem that
June, passing Proposition 13 by nearly two to one to cap property tax rates
after years of rising home values had pushed tax bills up alongside them.
Foreign policy delivered one of the decade’s genuine breakthroughs: President
Carter brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin together for thirteen days of negotiations at Camp David that
September, producing a framework for peace between the two countries that was
signed as a treaty the following March. First-class postage rose to 15 cents
that May 29, a rate that would hold longer than any other in the decade. The
year ended in tragedy: cult leader Jim Jones directed the mass murder-suicide
of more than 900 followers at a remote settlement in Guyana that November 18.
A median household earned $15,064 in 1978, a new home sold for a median
$55,700, and gas averaged 63 cents a gallon. Consumer prices stood 558.6%
above their 1913 level, with the decade’s worst inflation
still to come.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1978: $100 is worth $381 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1978/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1978. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1978/