$100 in 1932 is worth $220 in 1962,
because prices increased 120.4% over that period, an average of
2.67% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$220
in 1962
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
120.4%
Average inflation rate
2.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$220
Price difference ($100 base)
$120
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1962
30.2
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
$100 in 1932 → 1962
$220
$100 in 1962 → 1932
$45.36
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1962
Between 1932 and 1962, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 30.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 120.4%, which works out to an average of
2.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.45 buys in 1962: the 1932 dollar
lost 54.6% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1962 at the same ratio, 2.20: $1,000 becomes
$2,204, and $10,000 becomes $22,044.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1962
$1.00
$2.20
$5.00
$11.02
$10.00
$22.04
$20.00
$44.09
$50.00
$110
$100
$220
$500
$1,102
$1,000
$2,204
$5,000
$11,022
$10,000
$22,044
$100,000
$220,438
$1,000,000
$2,204,380
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1962
Between 1932 and 1962, food rose the most, up 186.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 137.4%, against 120.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1962, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.67%
$220
Food
3.56%
$286
Apparel
2.92%
$237
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 1962
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 1932–1962 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
1960–1962
1.01%
2.0%
$220
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $163 by
1947, on its way to $220 in 1962; 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 1962, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $220; the year's average CPI of 30.2 is the level
behind every 1962 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1962, matching 1961’s pace as
inflation stayed remarkably low and unemployment slowly declined from its
recession-era highs. That January, Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers
introduced “wage-price guideposts,” non-binding targets meant to keep pay
and price increases in line with productivity growth without formal
controls. The space race delivered a milestone that February, when John
Glenn’s Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times, making him the
first American to orbit the planet. Markets got a scare that spring: a
dispute over U.S. Steel’s April price increase, which Kennedy publicly
pressured the company into rolling back, rattled investors, and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average fell about 5.7% on May 28, its steepest one-day
drop since the 1929 crash. The year’s gravest moment came that October,
when American reconnaissance photographed Soviet nuclear missiles in
Cuba, setting off a 13-day standoff that brought the two superpowers
closer to nuclear war than at any other point in the Cold War before the
Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge
not to invade the island. Consumer prices finished 1962 205.1% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.15 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1962: $100 is worth $220 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1962/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1962. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1962/