$100 in 1932 is worth $101 in 1936,
because prices increased 1.5% over that period, an average of
0.36% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$101
in 1936
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1.5%
Average inflation rate
0.36% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$101
Price difference ($100 base)
$1.46
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1936
13.9
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
$100 in 1932 → 1936
$101
$100 in 1936 → 1932
$98.56
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1936
Between 1932 and 1936, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 13.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1.5%, which works out to an average of
0.36% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.99 buys in 1936: the 1932 dollar
lost 1.4% of its purchasing power over
these 4 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 1936 at the same ratio, 1.01: $1,000 becomes
$1,015, and $10,000 becomes $10,146.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1936
$1.00
$1.01
$5.00
$5.07
$10.00
$10.15
$20.00
$20.29
$50.00
$50.73
$100
$101
$500
$507
$1,000
$1,015
$5,000
$5,073
$10,000
$10,146
$100,000
$101,460
$1,000,000
$1,014,599
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1936
Between 1932 and 1936, food rose the most, up 17.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 7.7%, against 1.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1936, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.36%
$101
Food
4.17%
$118
Apparel
1.87%
$108
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 $97.81 by
1934, on its way to $101 in 1936; 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 1936, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $101; the year's average CPI of 13.9 is the level
behind every 1936 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1936, a third straight annual increase and part
of a slow, steady climb back from the 1933 trough, though
prices and the broader economy still had not fully recovered to their
pre-Depression levels. Voters delivered their verdict on that recovery in
November, reelecting Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican Alf Landon in one
of the most lopsided elections in U.S. history: Roosevelt carried 46 of 48
states and won the Electoral College 523 to 8, a broad public endorsement of
the New Deal. Public works kept advancing that year, too. Hoover Dam, one of
the era’s signature projects, had been dedicated in September 1935, but its
first generators did not begin sending electricity over transmission lines
to Los Angeles until October 1936, a milestone that showed how long even a
celebrated project took to reach full operation. Consumer prices ended the
year 40.4% above their 1913 level, still 18.7% below the
1929 peak, a gap that would keep narrowing until a sharp new recession
interrupted the recovery the following year. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1936: $100 is worth $101 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1936/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1936. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1936/