$100 in 1928 is worth $1,105 in 2004,
because prices increased 1004.7% over that period, an average of
3.21% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$1,105
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1004.7%
Average inflation rate
3.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,105
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,005
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1928 → 2004
$1,105
$100 in 2004 → 1928
$9.05
What happened to prices between 1928 and 2004
Between 1928 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1004.7%, which works out to an average of
3.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2004: the 1928 dollar
lost 90.9% of its purchasing power over
these 76 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 2004 at the same ratio, 11.05: $1,000 becomes
$11,047, and $10,000 becomes $110,468.
Amount in 1928
Value in 2004
$1.00
$11.05
$5.00
$55.23
$10.00
$110
$20.00
$221
$50.00
$552
$100
$1,105
$500
$5,523
$1,000
$11,047
$5,000
$55,234
$10,000
$110,468
$100,000
$1,104,678
$1,000,000
$11,046,784
Inflation by spending category, 1928–2004
Between 1928 and 2004, food rose the most, up 1042.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 381.6%, against 1004.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.21%
$1,105
Food
3.26%
$1,142
Apparel
2.09%
$482
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 2004
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 1928–2004 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,007
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$1,105
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $204 by
1968, on its way to $1,105 in 2004; 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: 2004
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $1,105; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 2004: $100 is worth $1,105 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-2004/