$100 in 1924 is worth $80.12 in 1932,
because prices declined 19.9% over that period, an average of
2.73% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$80.12
in 1932
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-19.9%
Average inflation rate
-2.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$80.12
Price difference ($100 base)
-$19.88
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1932
13.7
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
$100 in 1924 → 1932
$80.12
$100 in 1932 → 1924
$125
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1932
Between 1924 and 1932, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices declined 19.9%, which works out to an average of
-2.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$1.25 buys in 1932: the 1924 dollar
gained 24.8% in purchasing power over
these 8 years.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1924 amount converts to 1932 at the same ratio, 0.80: $1,000 becomes
$801, and $10,000 becomes $8,012.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1932
$1.00
$0.80
$5.00
$4.01
$10.00
$8.01
$20.00
$16.02
$50.00
$40.06
$100
$80.12
$500
$401
$1,000
$801
$5,000
$4,006
$10,000
$8,012
$100,000
$80,117
$1,000,000
$801,170
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1932
Every category fell between 1924 and 1932: food the most, down 29.6%, and apparel the least, down 27.2%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1932, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
-2.73%
$80.12
Apparel
-3.90%
$72.76
Food
-4.29%
$70.39
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1924: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1924 to 1932
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.4% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (9.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1932 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1932
-9.43%
-18.0%
$80.12
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $100 by
1928, on its way to $80.12 in 1932; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.3% in 1925, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1932, prices fell 9.9% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $80.12; 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 1924 to 1932: $100 is worth $80.12 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1932/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1932. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1932/