$100 in 1932 is worth $97.81 in 1934,
because prices declined 2.2% over that period, an average of
1.10% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$97.81
in 1934
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-2.2%
Average inflation rate
-1.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$97.81
Price difference ($100 base)
-$2.19
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1934
13.4
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1934
3.08%
$100 in 1932 → 1934
$97.81
$100 in 1934 → 1932
$102
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1934
Between 1932 and 1934, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 13.4.
Cumulatively, prices declined 2.2%, which works out to an average of
-1.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$1.02 buys in 1934: the 1932 dollar
gained 2.2% in purchasing power over
these 2 years.
Consumer prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the steepest single-year drop in the
CPI’s history to that point and the third straight year of decline following
1930 and 1931. Wages, farm incomes, and
industrial output all kept falling, and Congress tried to arrest the credit
collapse by creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation that January,
capitalized at $500 million with authority to borrow up to $1.5 billion to
lend directly to banks, railroads, and other struggling businesses. Relief
did not reach ordinary households as quickly. That summer, tens of thousands
of World War I veterans and their families camped in Washington demanding
early payment of a service bonus not due until 1945; in July, U.S. Army
troops under General Douglas MacArthur forcibly dispersed the encampment, an
episode that badly damaged the Hoover administration’s standing months
before an election it was already losing. Voters delivered their verdict on
November 8, electing Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide over the
incumbent Hoover on a promise of relief and a “new deal for the American
people.” Roosevelt would not take office until the following March, leaving
a long and difficult transition during the depths of the crisis. First-class
postage rose from 2 cents to 3 cents on July 6, the first change to the rate
since 1919.
Every 1932 amount converts to 1934 at the same ratio, 0.98: $1,000 becomes
$978, and $10,000 becomes $9,781.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1934
$1.00
$0.98
$5.00
$4.89
$10.00
$9.78
$20.00
$19.56
$50.00
$48.91
$100
$97.81
$500
$489
$1,000
$978
$5,000
$4,891
$10,000
$9,781
$100,000
$97,810
$1,000,000
$978,102
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1934
Between 1932 and 1934, food rose the most, up 8.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 5.6%, against 2.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1934, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.10%
$97.81
Food
4.12%
$108
Apparel
2.78%
$106
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1932: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $94.89 by
1933, on its way to $97.81 in 1934; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.1% in 1934, and prices fell 5.1% in 1933, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1934, prices rose 3.1% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $97.81; the year's average CPI of 13.4 is the level
behind every 1934 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 3.1% in 1934, the first annual increase since 1926;
every year from 1927 through 1933 had been flat or falling,
so the turn marked a real break after eight years without a single gain.
Currency policy did some of the work. The Gold Reserve Act, signed January
30, formally devalued the dollar by raising the official price of gold from
$20.67 to $35 an ounce, part of the administration’s deliberate effort to
reflate prices after four straight years of deflation. Financial regulation
tightened at the same time: the Securities Exchange Act of June 6 created
the Securities and Exchange Commission to police stock exchanges and enforce
disclosure rules, a direct response to the speculation blamed for the 1929
crash. The recovery was fragile and unevenly felt, especially on the Great
Plains, where drought had turned overplowed farmland to dust. Over May 9-11,
high winds lifted an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil into the air,
darkening skies as far away as Washington and New York and giving city
readers who had never seen a wheat field a first glimpse of the disaster
building in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Consumer prices stood 35.4% above
their 1913 level, still well below the 1929 peak but rising
for the first time since the Depression began. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1934: $100 is worth $97.81 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1934/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1934. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1934/