$100 in 1928 is worth $425 in 1979,
because prices increased 324.6% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$425
in 1979
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
324.6%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$425
Price difference ($100 base)
$325
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1979
72.6
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
$100 in 1928 → 1979
$425
$100 in 1979 → 1928
$23.55
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1979
Between 1928 and 1979, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 72.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 324.6%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1979: the 1928 dollar
lost 76.4% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1979 at the same ratio, 4.25: $1,000 becomes
$4,246, and $10,000 becomes $42,456.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1979
$1.00
$4.25
$5.00
$21.23
$10.00
$42.46
$20.00
$84.91
$50.00
$212
$100
$425
$500
$2,123
$1,000
$4,246
$5,000
$21,228
$10,000
$42,456
$100,000
$424,561
$1,000,000
$4,245,614
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1979
Between 1928 and 1979, food rose the most, up 390.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 239.6%, against 324.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1979, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$425
Food
3.17%
$490
Apparel
2.43%
$340
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 1979
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.21% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1979 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
1970–1979
7.21%
87.1%
$425
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $157 by
1954, on its way to $425 in 1979; 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: 1979
In 1979, prices rose 11.3% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $425; the year's average CPI of 72.6 is the level
behind every 1979 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 11.3% in 1979, the fastest pace since 1947 and the
decade’s second bout of double-digit inflation after 1974’s
11.0%. The trigger was familiar: the Iranian Revolution that January halted
Iran’s oil exports, and panic buying amplified the shortage, sending crude
prices sharply higher over the year and motorists back into gas lines, with
some states reviving the odd-even rationing last seen in 1974. Paul Volcker,
appointed Federal Reserve chairman that August, responded with a strategy
shift announced that October: the Fed would target the money supply directly
and let interest rates rise as high as necessary to break inflation, whatever
the short-term cost. That cost would arrive as a deep recession in 1981-82,
but by year’s end 1979 had already delivered enough turmoil on its own. A
reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
suffered a partial core meltdown that March 28, the worst commercial nuclear
accident in U.S. history, and on November 4, militants in Tehran stormed the
U.S. embassy and took 52 Americans hostage, beginning a 444-day crisis that
consumed the rest of Carter’s presidency. A median household earned $16,461
in 1979, a new home sold for a median $62,900, and gas jumped to 86 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices finished the decade 97.8% above where they stood in
1969, very nearly doubling in ten years, and stood 633.3%
above their 1913 level. The 1970s had opened with inflation
cooling from the 1969 spike and closed with prices rising faster than at any
point since 1947, setting up the Great
Inflation’s final act in 1980.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1979: $100 is worth $425 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1979/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1979. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1979/