$100 in 1916 is worth $126 in 1932,
because prices increased 25.7% over that period, an average of
1.44% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$126
in 1932
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
25.7%
Average inflation rate
1.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$126
Price difference ($100 base)
$25.69
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1932
13.7
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
$100 in 1916 → 1932
$126
$100 in 1932 → 1916
$79.56
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1932
Between 1916 and 1932, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 25.7%, which works out to an average of
1.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.80 buys in 1932: the 1916 dollar
lost 20.4% of its purchasing power over
these 16 years.
1916 was when World War I first showed up clearly in American price tags.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% for the year, easily the sharpest increase since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI history begins in 1913, as factories ran
flat out to fill steel, munitions, and food orders from Britain and France.
Railroad workers felt the squeeze from rising living costs enough to threaten
a nationwide strike; Congress headed it off in September with the Adamson
Act, which set an eight-hour standard workday for interstate rail employees,
the first federal law of its kind covering private-sector hours. Washington
was also preparing more directly for war: the National Defense Act, signed
in June, expanded the Army and National Guard and funded new
government-owned munitions plants, adding another source of demand to an
economy already running hot. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in November
largely on having kept the country out of the fighting so far, a promise
that would not survive the following spring. A first-class stamp still cost
2 cents, one of the few prices that had not yet moved.
Every 1916 amount converts to 1932 at the same ratio, 1.26: $1,000 becomes
$1,257, and $10,000 becomes $12,569.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1932
$1.00
$1.26
$5.00
$6.28
$10.00
$12.57
$20.00
$25.14
$50.00
$62.84
$100
$126
$500
$628
$1,000
$1,257
$5,000
$6,284
$10,000
$12,569
$100,000
$125,688
$1,000,000
$1,256,881
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1932
Between 1916 and 1932, apparel rose the most, up 16.1%, while food fell 5.3%, against 25.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1932, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.44%
$126
Apparel
0.94%
$116
Food
-0.34%
$94.69
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1916: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1916 to 1932
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1930s (9.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1932 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$153
1930–1932
-9.43%
-18.0%
$126
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $157 by
1924, on its way to $126 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 1916 had the buying
power of $126; 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 1916 to 1932: $100 is worth $126 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1932/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1932. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1932/