$100 in 1932 is worth $785 in 1985,
because prices increased 685.4% over that period, an average of
3.97% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$785
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
685.4%
Average inflation rate
3.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$785
Price difference ($100 base)
$685
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1932 → 1985
$785
$100 in 1985 → 1932
$12.73
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1985
Between 1932 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 685.4%, which works out to an average of
3.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1985: the 1932 dollar
lost 87.3% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 1985 at the same ratio, 7.85: $1,000 becomes
$7,854, and $10,000 becomes $78,540.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1985
$1.00
$7.85
$5.00
$39.27
$10.00
$78.54
$20.00
$157
$50.00
$393
$100
$785
$500
$3,927
$1,000
$7,854
$5,000
$39,270
$10,000
$78,540
$100,000
$785,401
$1,000,000
$7,854,015
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1985
Between 1932 and 1985, food rose the most, up 886.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 438.5%, against 685.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.97%
$785
Food
4.41%
$987
Apparel
3.23%
$538
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 1985
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 1932–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$785
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $211 by
1958, on its way to $785 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $785; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1985: $100 is worth $785 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1985/