$100 in 1932 is worth $176 in 1950,
because prices increased 75.9% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$176
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
75.9%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$176
Price difference ($100 base)
$75.91
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1932 → 1950
$176
$100 in 1950 → 1932
$56.85
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1950
Between 1932 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 75.9%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.57 buys in 1950: the 1932 dollar
lost 43.2% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1950 at the same ratio, 1.76: $1,000 becomes
$1,759, and $10,000 becomes $17,591.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.76
$5.00
$8.80
$10.00
$17.59
$20.00
$35.18
$50.00
$87.96
$100
$176
$500
$880
$1,000
$1,759
$5,000
$8,796
$10,000
$17,591
$100,000
$175,912
$1,000,000
$1,759,124
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1950
Between 1932 and 1950, food rose the most, up 137.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 106.7%, against 75.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$176
Food
4.92%
$237
Apparel
4.12%
$207
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 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.27% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1932–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1932, at end
1932–1940
0.27%
2.2%
$102
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$176
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $107 by
1941, on its way to $176 in 1950; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 5.1% in 1933, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $176; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1950: $100 is worth $176 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1950/