$100 in 1929 is worth $1,362 in 2013,
because prices increased 1262.3% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1929 has
the same buying power as
$1,362
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1262.3%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,362
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,262
CPI in 1929
17.1
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1929
0.00%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1929 → 2013
$1,362
$100 in 2013 → 1929
$7.34
What happened to prices between 1929 and 2013
Between 1929 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1262.3%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1929 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2013: the 1929 dollar
lost 92.7% of its purchasing power over
these 84 years.
Consumer prices were unchanged in 1929, the CPI’s annual average flat for
the second time in six years and a fitting close to a decade that began with
wartime inflation and ended in rough price stability. By year’s end the
index stood 14.5% below its 1920 peak and roughly 73% above its
1913 starting point, a reminder that even a “stable” decade
left prices well above where they had started. The stability in the cost of
living masked what was building in financial markets. The National Bureau
of Economic Research dates the start of the Great Depression to that
August, the month the business cycle peaked, months before most Americans
noticed anything was wrong. The break came that October: panic selling hit
Wall Street on Black Thursday, October 24, and returned even worse on Black
Tuesday, October 29, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 12% in
a single session. Billions of dollars in paper wealth disappeared within
days, and the crash marked the start of a downturn that would pull consumer
prices into their steepest sustained decline of the 20th century over the
next four years. First-class postage was still 2 cents, a price that would
hold until 1932.
Every 1929 amount converts to 2013 at the same ratio, 13.62: $1,000 becomes
$13,623, and $10,000 becomes $136,232.
Amount in 1929
Value in 2013
$1.00
$13.62
$5.00
$68.12
$10.00
$136
$20.00
$272
$50.00
$681
$100
$1,362
$500
$6,812
$1,000
$13,623
$5,000
$68,116
$10,000
$136,232
$100,000
$1,362,322
$1,000,000
$13,623,216
Inflation by spending category, 1929–2013
Between 1929 and 2013, food rose the most, up 1336.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 415.8%, against 1262.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1929
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1929 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$1,362
Food
3.22%
$1,437
Apparel
1.97%
$516
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1929: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1929 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1920s (2.3% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1929–2013 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1929, at end
1929–1930
-2.34%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$227
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$482
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$764
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,007
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,275
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,362
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1929
$100 from 1929 had already become $215 by
1969, on its way to $1,362 in 2013; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1929 had the buying
power of $1,362; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1929 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,362 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1929-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1929 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1929-to-2013/