$100 in 1932 is worth $994 in 1991,
because prices increased 894.2% over that period, an average of
3.97% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$994
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
894.2%
Average inflation rate
3.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$994
Price difference ($100 base)
$894
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1932 → 1991
$994
$100 in 1991 → 1932
$10.06
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1991
Between 1932 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 894.2%, which works out to an average of
3.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1991: the 1932 dollar
lost 89.9% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 1991 at the same ratio, 9.94: $1,000 becomes
$9,942, and $10,000 becomes $99,416.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1991
$1.00
$9.94
$5.00
$49.71
$10.00
$99.42
$20.00
$199
$50.00
$497
$100
$994
$500
$4,971
$1,000
$9,942
$5,000
$49,708
$10,000
$99,416
$100,000
$994,161
$1,000,000
$9,941,606
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1991
Between 1932 and 1991, food rose the most, up 1173.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 560.0%, against 894.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.97%
$994
Food
4.41%
$1,274
Apparel
3.25%
$660
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 1991
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 1932–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$954
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$994
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $220 by
1962, on its way to $994 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $994; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1991: $100 is worth $994 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1991/