$100 in 1932 is worth $1,190 in 1998,
because prices increased 1089.8% over that period, an average of
3.82% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,190
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1089.8%
Average inflation rate
3.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,190
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,090
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1932 → 1998
$1,190
$100 in 1998 → 1932
$8.40
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1998
Between 1932 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1089.8%, which works out to an average of
3.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1998: the 1932 dollar
lost 91.6% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 1998 at the same ratio, 11.90: $1,000 becomes
$11,898, and $10,000 becomes $118,978.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1998
$1.00
$11.90
$5.00
$59.49
$10.00
$119
$20.00
$238
$50.00
$595
$100
$1,190
$500
$5,949
$1,000
$11,898
$5,000
$59,489
$10,000
$118,978
$100,000
$1,189,781
$1,000,000
$11,897,810
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1998
Between 1932 and 1998, food rose the most, up 1401.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 582.1%, against 1089.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.82%
$1,190
Food
4.19%
$1,502
Apparel
2.95%
$682
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 1998
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 1932–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$1,190
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $244 by
1967, on its way to $1,190 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,190; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1998: $100 is worth $1,190 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1998/