$100 in 1932 is worth $268 in 1969,
because prices increased 167.9% over that period, an average of
2.70% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$268
in 1969
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
167.9%
Average inflation rate
2.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$268
Price difference ($100 base)
$168
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1969
36.7
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1969
5.46%
$100 in 1932 → 1969
$268
$100 in 1969 → 1932
$37.33
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1969
Between 1932 and 1969, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 36.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 167.9%, which works out to an average of
2.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.37 buys in 1969: the 1932 dollar
lost 62.7% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 1969 at the same ratio, 2.68: $1,000 becomes
$2,679, and $10,000 becomes $26,788.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1969
$1.00
$2.68
$5.00
$13.39
$10.00
$26.79
$20.00
$53.58
$50.00
$134
$100
$268
$500
$1,339
$1,000
$2,679
$5,000
$13,394
$10,000
$26,788
$100,000
$267,883
$1,000,000
$2,678,832
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1969
Between 1932 and 1969, food rose the most, up 246.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 191.3%, against 167.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1969, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.70%
$268
Food
3.42%
$347
Apparel
2.93%
$291
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 1969
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 1932–1969 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
1960–1969
2.42%
24.0%
$268
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $176 by
1950, on its way to $268 in 1969; 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: 1969
In 1969, prices rose 5.5% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $268; the year's average CPI of 36.7 is the level
behind every 1969 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.5% in 1969, up from 1968’s 4.2% and
the fastest pace since the Korean War era, as years of Vietnam War
spending, a labor market with unemployment under 4%, and expansionary
fiscal policy finally showed up fully in prices. Richard Nixon was
inaugurated that January 20, pledging to curb rising prices without wage
and price controls, a position he would reverse within two years. The
decade’s most triumphant moment came that July 20, when Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon while Michael Collins orbited above,
fulfilling the goal Kennedy had set in 1961 of landing a man on the lunar
surface before the decade’s end. Culture and protest both reached new
extremes that year: an estimated 400,000 people gathered on a dairy farm
in Bethel, New York, for the Woodstock music festival that August, and a
police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village that
June touched off days of resistance now credited with launching the
modern gay rights movement. Consumer prices finished the decade 270.7%
above their 1913 level, up 24.0% from where they stood in
1960. The 1960s had opened with inflation near 1% a year and closed with
prices rising faster than at any point since Korea, setting up the Great
Inflation that would define the
1970s. First-class postage held at 6 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at $1.60 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1969: $100 is worth $268 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1969/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1969. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1969/