$100 in 1928 is worth $1,255 in 2009,
because prices increased 1154.6% over that period, an average of
3.17% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$1,255
in 2009
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1154.6%
Average inflation rate
3.17% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,255
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,155
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 2009
214.537
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
$100 in 1928 → 2009
$1,255
$100 in 2009 → 1928
$7.97
What happened to prices between 1928 and 2009
Between 1928 and 2009, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 214.537.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1154.6%, which works out to an average of
3.17% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2009: the 1928 dollar
lost 92.0% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 2009 at the same ratio, 12.55: $1,000 becomes
$12,546, and $10,000 becomes $125,460.
Amount in 1928
Value in 2009
$1.00
$12.55
$5.00
$62.73
$10.00
$125
$20.00
$251
$50.00
$627
$100
$1,255
$500
$6,273
$1,000
$12,546
$5,000
$62,730
$10,000
$125,460
$100,000
$1,254,602
$1,000,000
$12,546,023
Inflation by spending category, 1928–2009
Between 1928 and 2009, food rose the most, up 1237.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 380.3%, against 1154.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 2009, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.17%
$1,255
Food
3.25%
$1,337
Apparel
1.96%
$480
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 2009
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 1928–2009 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
2000–2009
2.47%
24.6%
$1,255
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $204 by
1968, on its way to $1,255 in 2009; 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: 2009
In 2009, prices fell 0.4% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $1,255; the year's average CPI of 214.537 is the level
behind every 2009 figure on this page.
2009 is the rarest kind of year in the modern price data: one where the cost
of living went down. The CPI fell 0.4%, the first full-year deflation
since 1955, as the Great Recession hollowed out demand and oil unwound from
its $147 spike the summer before. Gasoline that had cost over $4 a gallon in
July 2008 averaged $2.35 in 2009, and that energy collapse dragged the
12-month inflation rate to −2.1% by July, the deepest reading since 1950.
Policymakers treated falling prices not as relief but as a warning: deflation
raises the real weight of debt precisely when households are drowning in it,
which is why the Federal Reserve pinned interest rates near zero, began buying
bonds by the hundreds of billions, and Washington passed a $787 billion
stimulus. The medicine took: prices stabilized within a year, and 2009 remains
the textbook case of why central banks fear deflation more than moderate
inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 2009: $100 is worth $1,255 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-2009/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 2009. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-2009/