$100 in 1932 is worth $664 in 1981,
because prices increased 563.5% over that period, an average of
3.94% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$664
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
563.5%
Average inflation rate
3.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$664
Price difference ($100 base)
$564
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1932 → 1981
$664
$100 in 1981 → 1932
$15.07
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1981
Between 1932 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 563.5%, which works out to an average of
3.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1981: the 1932 dollar
lost 84.9% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1981 at the same ratio, 6.64: $1,000 becomes
$6,635, and $10,000 becomes $66,350.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1981
$1.00
$6.64
$5.00
$33.18
$10.00
$66.35
$20.00
$133
$50.00
$332
$100
$664
$500
$3,318
$1,000
$6,635
$5,000
$33,175
$10,000
$66,350
$100,000
$663,504
$1,000,000
$6,635,036
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1981
Between 1932 and 1981, food rose the most, up 774.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 388.7%, against 563.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.94%
$664
Food
4.53%
$875
Apparel
3.29%
$489
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.27% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1932–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$601
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$664
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $199 by
1956, on its way to $664 in 1981; 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: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $664; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1981: $100 is worth $664 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1981/