$100 in 1928 is worth $820 in 1992,
because prices increased 720.5% over that period, an average of
3.34% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$820
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
720.5%
Average inflation rate
3.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$820
Price difference ($100 base)
$720
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1928 → 1992
$820
$100 in 1992 → 1928
$12.19
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1992
Between 1928 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 720.5%, which works out to an average of
3.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1992: the 1928 dollar
lost 87.8% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 1992 at the same ratio, 8.20: $1,000 becomes
$8,205, and $10,000 becomes $82,047.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1992
$1.00
$8.20
$5.00
$41.02
$10.00
$82.05
$20.00
$164
$50.00
$410
$100
$820
$500
$4,102
$1,000
$8,205
$5,000
$41,023
$10,000
$82,047
$100,000
$820,468
$1,000,000
$8,204,678
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1992
Between 1928 and 1992, food rose the most, up 746.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 427.6%, against 720.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.34%
$820
Food
3.39%
$846
Apparel
2.63%
$528
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 1992
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 1928–1992 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$764
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$820
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $169 by
1958, on its way to $820 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $820; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1992: $100 is worth $820 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1992/