$100 in 1928 is worth $564 in 1982,
because prices increased 464.3% over that period, an average of
3.26% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$564
in 1982
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
464.3%
Average inflation rate
3.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$564
Price difference ($100 base)
$464
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1982
96.5
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
$100 in 1928 → 1982
$564
$100 in 1982 → 1928
$17.72
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1982
Between 1928 and 1982, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 96.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 464.3%, which works out to an average of
3.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1982: the 1928 dollar
lost 82.3% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 1982 at the same ratio, 5.64: $1,000 becomes
$5,643, and $10,000 becomes $56,433.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1982
$1.00
$5.64
$5.00
$28.22
$10.00
$56.43
$20.00
$113
$50.00
$282
$100
$564
$500
$2,822
$1,000
$5,643
$5,000
$28,216
$10,000
$56,433
$100,000
$564,327
$1,000,000
$5,643,275
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1982
Between 1928 and 1982, food rose the most, up 497.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 291.2%, against 464.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1982, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.26%
$564
Food
3.37%
$598
Apparel
2.56%
$391
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 1982
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 8.22% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1982 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$482
1980–1982
8.22%
17.1%
$564
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $157 by
1954, on its way to $564 in 1982; 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: 1982
In 1982, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $564; the year's average CPI of 96.5 is the level
behind every 1982 figure on this page.
1982 was the hard bottom of the disinflation Paul Volcker had set in motion.
Consumer prices rose just 6.2% for the year, roughly half of 1981’s rate and a
fraction of the 13.5% peak from two years earlier. The price fell because
demand had been crushed: the recession that began in July 1981 did not
officially end until November 1982, and unemployment kept climbing even as
the economy technically began to recover, reaching 10.8% in November and
December, the highest rate since the Great Depression. Manufacturing and
construction, especially the auto and housing industries starved of credit by
double-digit interest rates, bore the worst of it. Abroad, Mexico’s August
announcement that it could not service its foreign debt opened a Latin
American debt crisis that spread across the region and forced the Federal
Reserve and IMF into emergency lending. The stress on the financial system
pushed Volcker to start easing interest rates that October, stepping back
from the strict money-supply targets he had followed since 1979. Markets read
the shift correctly: the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 776.92 in
mid-August, and the rally that followed became the opening leg of the 1980s
bull market. By year’s end, the trade-off Volcker had bet on was becoming
visible: much lower inflation, at the cost of the worst unemployment in 40
years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1982: $100 is worth $564 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1982/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1982. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1982/