$100 in 1932 is worth $218 in 1961,
because prices increased 118.2% over that period, an average of
2.73% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$218
in 1961
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
118.2%
Average inflation rate
2.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$218
Price difference ($100 base)
$118
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1961
29.9
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
$100 in 1932 → 1961
$218
$100 in 1961 → 1932
$45.82
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1961
Between 1932 and 1961, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 29.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 118.2%, which works out to an average of
2.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1961: the 1932 dollar
lost 54.2% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1961 at the same ratio, 2.18: $1,000 becomes
$2,182, and $10,000 becomes $21,825.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1961
$1.00
$2.18
$5.00
$10.91
$10.00
$21.82
$20.00
$43.65
$50.00
$109
$100
$218
$500
$1,091
$1,000
$2,182
$5,000
$10,912
$10,000
$21,825
$100,000
$218,248
$1,000,000
$2,182,482
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1961
Between 1932 and 1961, food rose the most, up 184.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 136.4%, against 118.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1961, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.73%
$218
Food
3.67%
$284
Apparel
3.01%
$236
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 1961
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 1932–1961 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$216
1960–1961
1.01%
1.0%
$218
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $142 by
1946, on its way to $218 in 1961; 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 1961, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $218; the year's average CPI of 29.9 is the level
behind every 1961 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1961: $100 is worth $218 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1961/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1961. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1961/