$100 in 1932 is worth $800 in 1986,
because prices increased 700.0% over that period, an average of
3.93% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$800
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
700.0%
Average inflation rate
3.93% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$800
Price difference ($100 base)
$700
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1932 → 1986
$800
$100 in 1986 → 1932
$12.50
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1986
Between 1932 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 700.0%, which works out to an average of
3.93% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1986: the 1932 dollar
lost 87.5% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 1986 at the same ratio, 8.00: $1,000 becomes
$8,000, and $10,000 becomes $80,000.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1986
$1.00
$8.00
$5.00
$40.00
$10.00
$80.00
$20.00
$160
$50.00
$400
$100
$800
$500
$4,000
$1,000
$8,000
$5,000
$40,000
$10,000
$80,000
$100,000
$800,000
$1,000,000
$8,000,000
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1986
Between 1932 and 1986, food rose the most, up 918.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 443.1%, against 700.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.93%
$800
Food
4.39%
$1,019
Apparel
3.18%
$543
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 1986
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 1932–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$800
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $211 by
1958, on its way to $800 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $800; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1986: $100 is worth $800 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1986/