$100 in 1932 is worth $100 in 1935,
because prices increased 0.0% over that period, an average of
0.00% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$100
in 1935
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
0.0%
Average inflation rate
0.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$100
Price difference ($100 base)
$0.00
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1935
13.7
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
$100 in 1932 → 1935
$100
$100 in 1935 → 1932
$100
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1935
Between 1932 and 1935, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 0.0%, which works out to an average of
0.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$1.00 buys in 1935: the 1932 dollar
lost 0.0% of its purchasing power over
these 3 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 1935 at the same ratio, 1.00: $1,000 becomes
$1,000, and $10,000 becomes $10,000.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1935
$1.00
$1.00
$5.00
$5.00
$10.00
$10.00
$20.00
$20.00
$50.00
$50.00
$100
$100
$500
$500
$1,000
$1,000
$5,000
$5,000
$10,000
$10,000
$100,000
$100,000
$1,000,000
$1,000,000
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1935
Between 1932 and 1935, food rose the most, up 15.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 6.7%, against 0.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1935, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.00%
$100
Food
5.04%
$116
Apparel
2.17%
$107
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 $100 in 1935; 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 1935, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $100; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1935 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1935: $100 is worth $100 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1935/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1935. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1935/