$100 in 1919 is worth $79.19 in 1932,
because prices declined 20.8% over that period, an average of
1.78% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$79.19
in 1932
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-20.8%
Average inflation rate
-1.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$79.19
Price difference ($100 base)
-$20.81
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1932
13.7
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
$100 in 1919 → 1932
$79.19
$100 in 1932 → 1919
$126
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1932
Between 1919 and 1932, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices declined 20.8%, which works out to an average of
-1.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$1.26 buys in 1932: the 1919 dollar
gained 26.3% in purchasing power over
these 13 years.
The fighting in Europe ended in November 1918, but American prices kept
climbing through 1919 almost as fast as they had during the war itself,
rising 14.6% for the year. Wartime price and production controls were being
dismantled, millions of soldiers were returning to the civilian labor
market, and demand that had been held back for years ran into supply that
had not caught up, a combination that kept the cost of living rising even
with the guns silent. Workers, whose pay had fallen behind three straight
years of double-digit inflation, pushed back: a general strike shut down
Seattle in February, Boston’s police force walked out in September, and a
nationwide steel strike that same month drew in roughly 350,000 workers and
ran into the following January. One price did fall that year: first-class
postage reverted to 2 cents on July 1, ending the wartime 3-cent rate that
had funded part of the war effort since late 1917. By year’s end, prices had
risen close to 75% since the CPI’s 1913 starting point,
compressing more than a decade of typical peacetime inflation into six years
of war and its aftermath.
Every 1919 amount converts to 1932 at the same ratio, 0.79: $1,000 becomes
$792, and $10,000 becomes $7,919.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1932
$1.00
$0.79
$5.00
$3.96
$10.00
$7.92
$20.00
$15.84
$50.00
$39.60
$100
$79.19
$500
$396
$1,000
$792
$5,000
$3,960
$10,000
$7,919
$100,000
$79,191
$1,000,000
$791,908
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1932
Every category fell between 1919 and 1932: apparel the most, down 46.1%, and food the least, down 42.5%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1932, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.78%
$79.19
Food
-4.16%
$57.53
Apparel
-4.65%
$53.87
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1919: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1919 to 1932
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.61% a year, and fell in the 1930s (9.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1919–1932 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1919, at end
1919–1920
15.61%
15.6%
$116
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$96.53
1930–1932
-9.43%
-18.0%
$79.19
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $101 by
1925, on its way to $79.19 in 1932; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 15.6% in 1920, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1932, prices fell 9.9% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $79.19; 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 1919 to 1932: $100 is worth $79.19 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1932/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1932. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1932/