$100 in 1931 is worth $1,533 in 2013,
because prices increased 1432.6% over that period, an average of
3.38% a year.
$100 in 1931 has
the same buying power as
$1,533
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1432.6%
Average inflation rate
3.38% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,533
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,433
CPI in 1931
15.2
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1931
-8.98%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1931 → 2013
$1,533
$100 in 2013 → 1931
$6.52
What happened to prices between 1931 and 2013
Between 1931 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.2 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1432.6%, which works out to an average of
3.38% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1931 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2013: the 1931 dollar
lost 93.5% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2013 at the same ratio, 15.33: $1,000 becomes
$15,326, and $10,000 becomes $153,261.
Amount in 1931
Value in 2013
$1.00
$15.33
$5.00
$76.63
$10.00
$153
$20.00
$307
$50.00
$766
$100
$1,533
$500
$7,663
$1,000
$15,326
$5,000
$76,631
$10,000
$153,261
$100,000
$1,532,612
$1,000,000
$15,326,118
Inflation by spending category, 1931–2013
Between 1931 and 2013, food rose the most, up 1737.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 479.1%, against 1432.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1931
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1931 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.38%
$1,533
Food
3.61%
$1,837
Apparel
2.17%
$579
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 2013
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 1931–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,435
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,533
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1931
$100 from 1931 had already become $266 by
1971, on its way to $1,533 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 1931 had the buying
power of $1,533; 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 1931 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,533 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1931-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1931 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1931-to-2013/