$100 in 1932 is worth $230 in 1965,
because prices increased 129.9% over that period, an average of
2.56% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$230
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
129.9%
Average inflation rate
2.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$230
Price difference ($100 base)
$130
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1932 → 1965
$230
$100 in 1965 → 1932
$43.49
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1965
Between 1932 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 129.9%, which works out to an average of
2.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1965: the 1932 dollar
lost 56.5% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 1965 at the same ratio, 2.30: $1,000 becomes
$2,299, and $10,000 becomes $22,993.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1965
$1.00
$2.30
$5.00
$11.50
$10.00
$22.99
$20.00
$45.99
$50.00
$115
$100
$230
$500
$1,150
$1,000
$2,299
$5,000
$11,496
$10,000
$22,993
$100,000
$229,927
$1,000,000
$2,299,270
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1965
Between 1932 and 1965, food rose the most, up 200.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 145.1%, against 129.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.56%
$230
Food
3.39%
$301
Apparel
2.75%
$245
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 1965
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 1932–1965 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
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$230
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $176 by
1948, on its way to $230 in 1965; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1965
In 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $230; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1965: $100 is worth $230 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1965/