$100 in 1914 is worth $137 in 1932,
because prices increased 37.0% over that period, an average of
1.76% a year.
$100 in 1914 has
the same buying power as
$137
in 1932
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
37.0%
Average inflation rate
1.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$137
Price difference ($100 base)
$37.00
CPI in 1914
10
CPI in 1932
13.7
Inflation in 1914
1.01%
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
$100 in 1914 → 1932
$137
$100 in 1932 → 1914
$72.99
What happened to prices between 1914 and 1932
Between 1914 and 1932, the Consumer Price Index went from 10 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 37.0%, which works out to an average of
1.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1914 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1932: the 1914 dollar
lost 27.0% of its purchasing power over
these 18 years.
Consumer prices barely moved in 1914, rising just 1.0% for the year, even as
the country’s financial plumbing was rebuilt from the ground up. The Federal
Reserve Banks, created by the Federal Reserve Act signed the previous
December, opened their doors on November 16, giving the U.S. a central bank
for the first time since the 1830s. Weeks earlier, the outbreak of war in
Europe had spooked the New York Stock Exchange into closing for more than
four months, the longest shutdown in its history, as officials worried
European investors would dump American securities for gold. Domestically, the
bigger story was labor: Henry Ford’s decision to pay factory workers $5 a
day, announced in January, roughly doubled wages on his assembly lines and
pushed other manufacturers to raise pay just to keep workers from leaving. A
first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, a price that had held since 1885 and
would keep holding for three more years, even as the war reshaping Europe
began pulling the American economy toward the sustained wartime inflation of
1917.
Every 1914 amount converts to 1932 at the same ratio, 1.37: $1,000 becomes
$1,370, and $10,000 becomes $13,700.
Amount in 1914
Value in 1932
$1.00
$1.37
$5.00
$6.85
$10.00
$13.70
$20.00
$27.40
$50.00
$68.50
$100
$137
$500
$685
$1,000
$1,370
$5,000
$6,850
$10,000
$13,700
$100,000
$137,000
$1,000,000
$1,370,000
Inflation by spending category, 1914–1932
Between 1914 and 1932, apparel rose the most, up 30.0%, while food rose the least, up 4.9%, against 37.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1914
spending costs in 1932, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1914 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.76%
$137
Apparel
1.47%
$130
Food
0.27%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1914: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1914 to 1932
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 12.25% a year, and fell in the 1930s (9.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1914–1932 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1914, at end
1914–1920
12.25%
100.0%
$200
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$167
1930–1932
-9.43%
-18.0%
$137
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1914
$100 from 1914 had already become $171 by
1923, on its way to $137 in 1932; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1932, prices fell 9.9% and $100 from 1914 had the buying
power of $137; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1932 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the steepest single-year drop in the
CPI’s history to that point and the third straight year of decline following
1930 and 1931. Wages, farm incomes, and
industrial output all kept falling, and Congress tried to arrest the credit
collapse by creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation that January,
capitalized at $500 million with authority to borrow up to $1.5 billion to
lend directly to banks, railroads, and other struggling businesses. Relief
did not reach ordinary households as quickly. That summer, tens of thousands
of World War I veterans and their families camped in Washington demanding
early payment of a service bonus not due until 1945; in July, U.S. Army
troops under General Douglas MacArthur forcibly dispersed the encampment, an
episode that badly damaged the Hoover administration’s standing months
before an election it was already losing. Voters delivered their verdict on
November 8, electing Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide over the
incumbent Hoover on a promise of relief and a “new deal for the American
people.” Roosevelt would not take office until the following March, leaving
a long and difficult transition during the depths of the crisis. First-class
postage rose from 2 cents to 3 cents on July 6, the first change to the rate
since 1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1914 to 1932: $100 is worth $137 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1932/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1914 to 1932. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1932/