$100 in 1932 is worth $758 in 1984,
because prices increased 658.4% over that period, an average of
3.97% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$758
in 1984
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
658.4%
Average inflation rate
3.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$758
Price difference ($100 base)
$658
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1984
103.9
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
$100 in 1932 → 1984
$758
$100 in 1984 → 1932
$13.19
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1984
Between 1932 and 1984, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 103.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 658.4%, which works out to an average of
3.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1984: the 1932 dollar
lost 86.8% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 1984 at the same ratio, 7.58: $1,000 becomes
$7,584, and $10,000 becomes $75,839.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1984
$1.00
$7.58
$5.00
$37.92
$10.00
$75.84
$20.00
$152
$50.00
$379
$100
$758
$500
$3,792
$1,000
$7,584
$5,000
$37,920
$10,000
$75,839
$100,000
$758,394
$1,000,000
$7,583,942
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1984
Between 1932 and 1984, food rose the most, up 864.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 423.6%, against 658.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1984, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.97%
$758
Food
4.45%
$964
Apparel
3.23%
$524
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 1984
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 1932–1984 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
1980–1984
5.97%
26.1%
$758
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $211 by
1958, on its way to $758 in 1984; 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: 1984
In 1984, prices rose 4.3% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $758; the year's average CPI of 103.9 is the level
behind every 1984 figure on this page.
1984 was the year the recovery became a boom. Real GDP grew 7.2%, the
fastest calendar-year growth since 1951, as the tax cuts passed in 1981
combined with falling interest rates and rebuilding consumer confidence.
Unemployment, which had topped 10.8% just two years earlier, fell below
7.5%. Inflation ticked up to 4.3% from 3.2% the year before, but nothing
close to a return of the 1970s wage-price spiral: the Federal Reserve under
Paul Volcker kept policy tight enough to hold the line while growth ran hot.
The strength of the expansion, branded “Morning in America” in President
Reagan’s reelection campaign, carried him to a 49-state landslide over
Walter Mondale that November, at the time the widest electoral-vote margin
in U.S. history. For households, the numbers behind the slogan were
concrete: median income rose to about $22,400, and a gallon of gas cost
$1.13, roughly what it had cost three years earlier even as wages kept
climbing. The contrast with 1980, when 13.5% inflation and interest rates
near 20% had defined the economy, could not have been sharper.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1984: $100 is worth $758 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1984/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1984. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1984/