$100 in 1930 is worth $295 in 1974,
because prices increased 195.2% over that period, an average of
2.49% a year.
$100 in 1930 has
the same buying power as
$295
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
195.2%
Average inflation rate
2.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$295
Price difference ($100 base)
$195
CPI in 1930
16.7
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1930
-2.34%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1930 → 1974
$295
$100 in 1974 → 1930
$33.87
What happened to prices between 1930 and 1974
Between 1930 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.7 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 195.2%, which works out to an average of
2.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1930 bought what
$0.34 buys in 1974: the 1930 dollar
lost 66.1% of its purchasing power over
these 44 years.
Consumer prices fell 2.3% in 1930, a mild decline compared with what was
coming but the first sign that the summer 1929 downturn was not going to be
short. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that contraction from
August 1929, and by the time it finally bottomed out in March 1933 it would
run 43 months, the longest of any downturn in the NBER’s chronology back to
1854. Congress made the trade picture worse in June, when President Hoover
signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising duties on more than 20,000
imported goods to some of the highest levels in a century. Trading partners
retaliated with tariffs of their own, and global trade volumes collapsed
over the next several years, deepening a downturn economists still debate
how much the tariff itself worsened. The financial system cracked that fall:
a regional banking panic culminated in the December 11 failure of the Bank
of United States in New York, at the time the largest bank failure in
American history, wiping out more than $200 million in deposits. It was the
first of four banking panics that would hit the country before 1933 was
out. Consumer prices still stood 68.7% above their 1913
starting point, but the direction had clearly turned. First-class postage
held at 2 cents, unchanged for eleven straight years.
Every 1930 amount converts to 1974 at the same ratio, 2.95: $1,000 becomes
$2,952, and $10,000 becomes $29,521.
Amount in 1930
Value in 1974
$1.00
$2.95
$5.00
$14.76
$10.00
$29.52
$20.00
$59.04
$50.00
$148
$100
$295
$500
$1,476
$1,000
$2,952
$5,000
$14,760
$10,000
$29,521
$100,000
$295,210
$1,000,000
$2,952,096
Inflation by spending category, 1930–1974
Between 1930 and 1974, food rose the most, up 253.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 186.8%, against 195.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1930
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1930 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.49%
$295
Food
2.91%
$353
Apparel
2.42%
$287
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1930: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1930 to 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1930–1974 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1930, at end
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$83.83
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$144
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$177
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$232
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$295
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1930
$100 from 1930 had already become $159 by
1952, on its way to $295 in 1974; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1930 had the buying
power of $295; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1930 to 1974: $100 is worth $295 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1930-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1930 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1930-to-1974/