$100 in 1932 is worth $324 in 1973,
because prices increased 224.1% over that period, an average of
2.91% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$324
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
224.1%
Average inflation rate
2.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$324
Price difference ($100 base)
$224
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1932 → 1973
$324
$100 in 1973 → 1932
$30.86
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1973
Between 1932 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 224.1%, which works out to an average of
2.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1973: the 1932 dollar
lost 69.1% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1973 at the same ratio, 3.24: $1,000 becomes
$3,241, and $10,000 becomes $32,409.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1973
$1.00
$3.24
$5.00
$16.20
$10.00
$32.41
$20.00
$64.82
$50.00
$162
$100
$324
$500
$1,620
$1,000
$3,241
$5,000
$16,204
$10,000
$32,409
$100,000
$324,088
$1,000,000
$3,240,876
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1973
Between 1932 and 1973, food rose the most, up 350.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 231.3%, against 224.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.91%
$324
Food
3.74%
$450
Apparel
2.96%
$331
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 1973
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 1932–1973 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
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$324
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $193 by
1952, on its way to $324 in 1973; 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: 1973
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $324; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1973: $100 is worth $324 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1973/