$100 in 1932 is worth $105 in 1937,
because prices increased 5.1% over that period, an average of
1.00% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$105
in 1937
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
5.1%
Average inflation rate
1.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$105
Price difference ($100 base)
$5.11
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1937
14.4
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
$100 in 1932 → 1937
$105
$100 in 1937 → 1932
$95.14
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1937
Between 1932 and 1937, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 14.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 5.1%, which works out to an average of
1.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.95 buys in 1937: the 1932 dollar
lost 4.9% of its purchasing power over
these 5 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 1937 at the same ratio, 1.05: $1,000 becomes
$1,051, and $10,000 becomes $10,511.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1937
$1.00
$1.05
$5.00
$5.26
$10.00
$10.51
$20.00
$21.02
$50.00
$52.55
$100
$105
$500
$526
$1,000
$1,051
$5,000
$5,255
$10,000
$10,511
$100,000
$105,109
$1,000,000
$1,051,095
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1937
Between 1932 and 1937, food rose the most, up 22.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 12.8%, against 5.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1937, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.00%
$105
Food
4.13%
$122
Apparel
2.44%
$113
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 $105 in 1937; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.6% in 1937, and prices fell 5.1% in 1933, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1937, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $105; the year's average CPI of 14.4 is the level
behind every 1937 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% in 1937, the fastest pace since before the
Depression and the fourth straight year of gains, leaving prices 10.8% above
their 1933 trough though still 15.8% below the
1929 peak. The recovery did not last the year. The National
Bureau of Economic Research dates a new business cycle peak to that May, the
start of what became known as the Recession of 1937-38. Policy tightened on
two fronts at once: the Federal Reserve had doubled bank reserve
requirements over the preceding year to head off inflation it worried was
building, and the federal government pulled back its own spending even as
new Social Security payroll taxes began draining money from paychecks
months before the first benefit checks went out. Together they choked off a
recovery that had not yet reached its pre-Depression footing. Not every
milestone that year was economic. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic
on May 27 after four years of construction, at the time the longest
suspension bridge span in the world, a rare bright spot in a year that would
end with the economy sliding backward again. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1937: $100 is worth $105 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1937/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1937. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1937/