$100 in 1932 is worth $1,082 in 1994,
because prices increased 981.8% over that period, an average of
3.92% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,082
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
981.8%
Average inflation rate
3.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,082
Price difference ($100 base)
$982
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1932 → 1994
$1,082
$100 in 1994 → 1932
$9.24
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1994
Between 1932 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 981.8%, which works out to an average of
3.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1994: the 1932 dollar
lost 90.8% of its purchasing power over
these 62 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 1994 at the same ratio, 10.82: $1,000 becomes
$10,818, and $10,000 becomes $108,175.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1994
$1.00
$10.82
$5.00
$54.09
$10.00
$108
$20.00
$216
$50.00
$541
$100
$1,082
$500
$5,409
$1,000
$10,818
$5,000
$54,088
$10,000
$108,175
$100,000
$1,081,752
$1,000,000
$10,817,518
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1994
Between 1932 and 1994, food rose the most, up 1248.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 584.1%, against 981.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.92%
$1,082
Food
4.29%
$1,349
Apparel
3.15%
$684
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 1994
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 1932–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$1,082
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $220 by
1962, on its way to $1,082 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,082; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1994: $100 is worth $1,082 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1994/