$100 in 1915 is worth $136 in 1932,
because prices increased 35.6% over that period, an average of
1.81% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$136
in 1932
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
35.6%
Average inflation rate
1.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$136
Price difference ($100 base)
$35.64
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1932
13.7
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
$100 in 1915 → 1932
$136
$100 in 1932 → 1915
$73.72
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1932
Between 1915 and 1932, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 35.6%, which works out to an average of
1.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1932: the 1915 dollar
lost 26.3% of its purchasing power over
these 17 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1915, the second straight year of near-flat
inflation before the wartime price surges of 1916 through 1918. The year’s
defining event had nothing to do with prices directly: a German submarine
sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast on May 7, killing 128
Americans and hardening U.S. opinion against Germany two years before the
country entered the war. Economically, 1915 was a turning point of a
different kind. A recession that had dragged on since 1913 began lifting as
Britain and France placed growing orders for steel, munitions, and other war
materiel with American manufacturers, and U.S. exports to the Allied powers
climbed sharply through the year. That demand would keep building through
1916, eventually pulling prices up with it. On the regulatory
side, the Federal Trade Commission opened for business in March, taking on
enforcement of the Clayton Antitrust Act that Congress had passed the
previous fall. A first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, unchanged since 1885
and still two years from its first wartime increase.
Every 1915 amount converts to 1932 at the same ratio, 1.36: $1,000 becomes
$1,356, and $10,000 becomes $13,564.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1932
$1.00
$1.36
$5.00
$6.78
$10.00
$13.56
$20.00
$27.13
$50.00
$67.82
$100
$136
$500
$678
$1,000
$1,356
$5,000
$6,782
$10,000
$13,564
$100,000
$135,644
$1,000,000
$1,356,436
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1932
Between 1915 and 1932, apparel rose the most, up 27.5%, while food rose the least, up 7.0%, against 35.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1932, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.81%
$136
Apparel
1.44%
$127
Food
0.40%
$107
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1915: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1915 to 1932
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1930s (9.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1932 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$165
1930–1932
-9.43%
-18.0%
$136
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $169 by
1923, on its way to $136 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 1915 had the buying
power of $136; 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 1915 to 1932: $100 is worth $136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1932/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1932. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1932/