$100 in 1932 is worth $727 in 1983,
because prices increased 627.0% over that period, an average of
3.97% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$727
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
627.0%
Average inflation rate
3.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$727
Price difference ($100 base)
$627
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1932 → 1983
$727
$100 in 1983 → 1932
$13.76
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1983
Between 1932 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 627.0%, which works out to an average of
3.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1983: the 1932 dollar
lost 86.2% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1983 at the same ratio, 7.27: $1,000 becomes
$7,270, and $10,000 becomes $72,701.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1983
$1.00
$7.27
$5.00
$36.35
$10.00
$72.70
$20.00
$145
$50.00
$364
$100
$727
$500
$3,635
$1,000
$7,270
$5,000
$36,350
$10,000
$72,701
$100,000
$727,007
$1,000,000
$7,270,073
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1983
Between 1932 and 1983, food rose the most, up 829.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 413.8%, against 627.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.97%
$727
Food
4.47%
$929
Apparel
3.26%
$514
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 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.27% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1932–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$727
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $211 by
1958, on its way to $727 in 1983; 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: 1983
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $727; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1983: $100 is worth $727 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1983/