$100 in 1928 is worth $725 in 1989,
because prices increased 625.1% over that period, an average of
3.30% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$725
in 1989
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
625.1%
Average inflation rate
3.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$725
Price difference ($100 base)
$625
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1989
124
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1989
4.82%
$100 in 1928 → 1989
$725
$100 in 1989 → 1928
$13.79
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1989
Between 1928 and 1989, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 124.
Cumulatively, prices increased 625.1%, which works out to an average of
3.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1989: the 1928 dollar
lost 86.2% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1989 at the same ratio, 7.25: $1,000 becomes
$7,251, and $10,000 becomes $72,515.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1989
$1.00
$7.25
$5.00
$36.26
$10.00
$72.51
$20.00
$145
$50.00
$363
$100
$725
$500
$3,626
$1,000
$7,251
$5,000
$36,257
$10,000
$72,515
$100,000
$725,146
$1,000,000
$7,251,462
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1989
Between 1928 and 1989, food rose the most, up 667.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 374.4%, against 625.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1989, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.30%
$725
Food
3.40%
$767
Apparel
2.59%
$474
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 1989
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1989 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
1980–1989
4.65%
50.5%
$725
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $169 by
1958, on its way to $725 in 1989; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1989
In 1989, prices rose 4.8% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $725; the year's average CPI of 124 is the level
behind every 1989 figure on this page.
1989 closed out a decade that began in economic crisis and ended in a long,
calmer expansion. Inflation for the year came in at 4.8%, higher than the
mid-decade lull but still roughly a third of the 13.5% peak that had opened
the decade in 1980. The federal minimum wage, unchanged at $3.35 an hour
since January 1981, had gone longer without an increase than at any point
since Congress created it, and had lost close to a third of its purchasing
power to inflation in the meantime; lawmakers would finally raise it to
$3.80 the following April. The decade’s other unfinished business came due
in August, when Congress passed FIRREA, the law that created the Resolution
Trust Corporation to seize and sell off the hundreds of savings and loan
institutions that a decade of deregulation and risky lending had left
insolvent, a bailout that eventually cost taxpayers over $100 billion. On
Wall Street, the recovery was already complete: the Dow Jones Industrial
Average closed 1989 at a record high, just over two years after Black
Monday’s 22.6% single-day crash, capping the bull market that had begun at
the Dow’s 776 low in August 1982. Between the S&L bailout, a wage floor
eroded by years without a raise, and a stock market at new highs, 1989
captured how unevenly the decade’s disinflation had been felt.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1989: $100 is worth $725 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1989/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1989. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1989/