$100 in 1930 is worth $544 in 1981,
because prices increased 444.3% over that period, an average of
3.38% a year.
$100 in 1930 has
the same buying power as
$544
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
444.3%
Average inflation rate
3.38% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$544
Price difference ($100 base)
$444
CPI in 1930
16.7
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1930
-2.34%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1930 → 1981
$544
$100 in 1981 → 1930
$18.37
What happened to prices between 1930 and 1981
Between 1930 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.7 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 444.3%, which works out to an average of
3.38% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1930 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1981: the 1930 dollar
lost 81.6% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1981 at the same ratio, 5.44: $1,000 becomes
$5,443, and $10,000 becomes $54,431.
Amount in 1930
Value in 1981
$1.00
$5.44
$5.00
$27.22
$10.00
$54.43
$20.00
$109
$50.00
$272
$100
$544
$500
$2,722
$1,000
$5,443
$5,000
$27,216
$10,000
$54,431
$100,000
$544,311
$1,000,000
$5,443,114
Inflation by spending category, 1930–1981
Between 1930 and 1981, food rose the most, up 500.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 293.8%, against 444.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1930
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1930 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.38%
$544
Food
3.58%
$600
Apparel
2.72%
$394
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1930–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$493
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$544
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1930
$100 from 1930 had already become $163 by
1956, on its way to $544 in 1981; 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: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1930 had the buying
power of $544; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1930 to 1981: $100 is worth $544 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1930-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1930 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1930-to-1981/