$100 in 1931 is worth $1,416 in 2008,
because prices increased 1316.5% over that period, an average of
3.50% a year.
$100 in 1931 has
the same buying power as
$1,416
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1316.5%
Average inflation rate
3.50% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,416
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,316
CPI in 1931
15.2
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1931
-8.98%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1931 → 2008
$1,416
$100 in 2008 → 1931
$7.06
What happened to prices between 1931 and 2008
Between 1931 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.2 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1316.5%, which works out to an average of
3.50% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1931 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2008: the 1931 dollar
lost 92.9% of its purchasing power over
these 77 years.
Consumer prices fell 9.0% in 1931, a sharp acceleration from the 2.3% decline
in 1930, as falling wages, collapsing farm prices, and a fresh
wave of bank failures fed a downward spiral that the still-contracting
economy could not shake. More than 2,000 banks failed during the year, far
more than in 1930, as depositors who had watched earlier banks go under
pulled their cash out of ones they feared were next. The crisis went
international that September, when Britain suspended the gold standard amid
a run on sterling. The Federal Reserve’s response made the domestic downturn
worse before it made anything better: to defend the dollar’s own gold
backing, the Fed raised its discount rate sharply that October, in two steps
from 1.5% to 3.5%, tightening credit at the exact moment the economy needed
the opposite. Not every headline that year was grim. The Empire State
Building opened its doors on May 1, briefly the tallest building in the
world, though so much of Manhattan’s office space sat vacant amid the
Depression that tenants stayed scarce and New Yorkers took to calling it the
“Empty State Building.” Consumer prices had now fallen for two straight
years and stood 53.5% above their 1913 level, down from the
68.7% margin of just twelve months before. First-class postage remained at 2
cents.
Every 1931 amount converts to 2008 at the same ratio, 14.16: $1,000 becomes
$14,165, and $10,000 becomes $141,647.
Amount in 1931
Value in 2008
$1.00
$14.16
$5.00
$70.82
$10.00
$142
$20.00
$283
$50.00
$708
$100
$1,416
$500
$7,082
$1,000
$14,165
$5,000
$70,823
$10,000
$141,647
$100,000
$1,416,467
$1,000,000
$14,164,671
Inflation by spending category, 1931–2008
Between 1931 and 2008, food rose the most, up 1559.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 440.5%, against 1316.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1931
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1931 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.50%
$1,416
Food
3.72%
$1,660
Apparel
2.22%
$540
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1931: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1931 to 2008
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1931–2008 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1931, at end
1931–1940
-0.91%
-7.9%
$92.11
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$159
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$195
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$255
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$542
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$860
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,133
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,416
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1931
$100 from 1931 had already become $266 by
1971, on its way to $1,416 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1931 had the buying
power of $1,416; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1931 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,416 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1931-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1931 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1931-to-2008/