$100 in 1932 is worth $1,216 in 1999,
because prices increased 1116.1% over that period, an average of
3.80% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,216
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1116.1%
Average inflation rate
3.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,216
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,116
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1932 → 1999
$1,216
$100 in 1999 → 1932
$8.22
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1999
Between 1932 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1116.1%, which works out to an average of
3.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1999: the 1932 dollar
lost 91.8% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 1999 at the same ratio, 12.16: $1,000 becomes
$12,161, and $10,000 becomes $121,606.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1999
$1.00
$12.16
$5.00
$60.80
$10.00
$122
$20.00
$243
$50.00
$608
$100
$1,216
$500
$6,080
$1,000
$12,161
$5,000
$60,803
$10,000
$121,606
$100,000
$1,216,058
$1,000,000
$12,160,584
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1999
Between 1932 and 1999, food rose the most, up 1433.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 573.3%, against 1116.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.80%
$1,216
Food
4.16%
$1,534
Apparel
2.89%
$673
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 1999
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 1932–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$1,216
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $244 by
1967, on its way to $1,216 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,216; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 1999: $100 is worth $1,216 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1999/