$100 in 1932 is worth $1,055 in 1993,
because prices increased 954.7% over that period, an average of
3.94% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,055
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
954.7%
Average inflation rate
3.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,055
Price difference ($100 base)
$955
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1932 → 1993
$1,055
$100 in 1993 → 1932
$9.48
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1993
Between 1932 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 954.7%, which works out to an average of
3.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1993: the 1932 dollar
lost 90.5% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1993 at the same ratio, 10.55: $1,000 becomes
$10,547, and $10,000 becomes $105,474.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1993
$1.00
$10.55
$5.00
$52.74
$10.00
$105
$20.00
$211
$50.00
$527
$100
$1,055
$500
$5,274
$1,000
$10,547
$5,000
$52,737
$10,000
$105,474
$100,000
$1,054,745
$1,000,000
$10,547,445
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1993
Between 1932 and 1993, food rose the most, up 1216.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 585.6%, against 954.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.94%
$1,055
Food
4.32%
$1,317
Apparel
3.21%
$686
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 1993
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 1932–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$1,055
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $220 by
1962, on its way to $1,055 in 1993; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1993
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,055; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1993: $100 is worth $1,055 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1993/