$100 in 1932 is worth $296 in 1971,
because prices increased 195.6% over that period, an average of
2.82% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$296
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
195.6%
Average inflation rate
2.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$296
Price difference ($100 base)
$196
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1932 → 1971
$296
$100 in 1971 → 1932
$33.83
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1971
Between 1932 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 195.6%, which works out to an average of
2.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.34 buys in 1971: the 1932 dollar
lost 66.2% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1971 at the same ratio, 2.96: $1,000 becomes
$2,956, and $10,000 becomes $29,562.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1971
$1.00
$2.96
$5.00
$14.78
$10.00
$29.56
$20.00
$59.12
$50.00
$148
$100
$296
$500
$1,478
$1,000
$2,956
$5,000
$14,781
$10,000
$29,562
$100,000
$295,620
$1,000,000
$2,956,204
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1971
Between 1932 and 1971, food rose the most, up 277.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 213.3%, against 195.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.82%
$296
Food
3.47%
$378
Apparel
2.97%
$313
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 1971
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 1932–1971 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$283
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$296
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $193 by
1952, on its way to $296 in 1971; 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: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $296; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1971: $100 is worth $296 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1971/