$100 in 1932 is worth $126 in 1943,
because prices increased 26.3% over that period, an average of
2.14% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$126
in 1943
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
26.3%
Average inflation rate
2.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$126
Price difference ($100 base)
$26.28
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1943
17.3
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1943
6.13%
$100 in 1932 → 1943
$126
$100 in 1943 → 1932
$79.19
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1943
Between 1932 and 1943, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 17.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 26.3%, which works out to an average of
2.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.79 buys in 1943: the 1932 dollar
lost 20.8% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 1943 at the same ratio, 1.26: $1,000 becomes
$1,263, and $10,000 becomes $12,628.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1943
$1.00
$1.26
$5.00
$6.31
$10.00
$12.63
$20.00
$25.26
$50.00
$63.14
$100
$126
$500
$631
$1,000
$1,263
$5,000
$6,314
$10,000
$12,628
$100,000
$126,277
$1,000,000
$1,262,774
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1943
Between 1932 and 1943, food rose the most, up 59.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 42.6%, against 26.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1943, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.14%
$126
Food
4.35%
$160
Apparel
3.28%
$143
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 1943
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.31% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.27% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1932–1943 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1932, at end
1932–1940
0.27%
2.2%
$102
1940–1943
7.31%
23.6%
$126
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $105 by
1937, on its way to $126 in 1943; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 10.9% in 1942, and prices fell 5.1% in 1933, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1943, prices rose 6.1% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $126; the year's average CPI of 17.3 is the level
behind every 1943 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.1% in 1943, a slower pace than 1942’s
surge but still well above anything the country had seen before the war.
The slowdown owed largely to the “Hold the Line” order, issued that April,
which froze most wages, prices, and rents at their current levels after the
previous year’s jump showed how far demand had outrun the existing
controls. Rationing grew more sophisticated alongside the freeze: starting
in February, a points system split scarce goods into red points for meat,
butter, and other fats and blue points for canned and processed foods,
letting households budget across categories instead of simply going without
once a flat quota ran dry. The government also changed how it collected the
taxes paying for all of it. The Current Tax Payment Act, signed June 9,
required employers to withhold federal income tax directly from paychecks
for the first time, smoothing the flow of wartime revenue and creating the
pay-as-you-go system still used today. Consumer prices stood 74.7% above
their 1913 level and 33.1% above 1933’s
Depression-era low. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1943: $100 is worth $126 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1943/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1943. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1943/