$100 in 1932 is worth $107 in 1941,
because prices increased 7.3% over that period, an average of
0.79% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$107
in 1941
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
7.3%
Average inflation rate
0.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$107
Price difference ($100 base)
$7.30
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1941
14.7
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
$100 in 1932 → 1941
$107
$100 in 1941 → 1932
$93.20
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1941
Between 1932 and 1941, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 14.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 7.3%, which works out to an average of
0.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.93 buys in 1941: the 1932 dollar
lost 6.8% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 1941 at the same ratio, 1.07: $1,000 becomes
$1,073, and $10,000 becomes $10,730.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1941
$1.00
$1.07
$5.00
$5.36
$10.00
$10.73
$20.00
$21.46
$50.00
$53.65
$100
$107
$500
$536
$1,000
$1,073
$5,000
$5,365
$10,000
$10,730
$100,000
$107,299
$1,000,000
$1,072,993
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1941
Between 1932 and 1941, food rose the most, up 22.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 16.9%, against 7.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1941, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.79%
$107
Food
2.27%
$122
Apparel
1.75%
$117
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–).
Decade by decade: 1932 to 1941
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.00% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.27% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1932–1941 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1932, at end
1932–1940
0.27%
2.2%
$102
1940–1941
5.00%
5.0%
$107
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $101 by
1936, on its way to $107 in 1941; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.0% in 1941, and prices fell 5.1% in 1933, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1941, prices rose 5.0% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $107; the year's average CPI of 14.7 is the level
behind every 1941 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.0% in 1941, up sharply from just 0.7% in
1940 and the fastest annual increase since 1920, as
rearmament and Lend-Lease production pushed demand well ahead of peacetime
supply even before the United States formally joined the war. Congress had
already tilted the country away from neutrality that March, passing the
Lend-Lease Act to arm Britain, and later the Soviet Union and other Allies,
without requiring immediate payment. That April, the government created the
Office of Price Administration to hold down the cost of civilian goods, the
start of a price-control system that would keep official inflation numbers
well below what wartime demand alone would have produced over the next four
years. Then, on December 7, Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor,
destroying much of the Pacific Fleet and killing more than 2,400 Americans.
Congress declared war on Japan the next day and on Germany and Italy three
days later, ending years of debate over whether the United States should
stay out of the conflict spreading across Europe and Asia. Consumer prices,
already up 48.5% from their 1913 level, would climb far
faster over the next two years as the economy converted fully to war
production. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1941: $100 is worth $107 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1941/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1941. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1941/