$100 in 1932 is worth $1,379 in 2004,
because prices increased 1278.8% over that period, an average of
3.71% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,379
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1278.8%
Average inflation rate
3.71% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,379
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,279
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1932 → 2004
$1,379
$100 in 2004 → 1932
$7.25
What happened to prices between 1932 and 2004
Between 1932 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1278.8%, which works out to an average of
3.71% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2004: the 1932 dollar
lost 92.7% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 2004 at the same ratio, 13.79: $1,000 becomes
$13,788, and $10,000 becomes $137,883.
Amount in 1932
Value in 2004
$1.00
$13.79
$5.00
$68.94
$10.00
$138
$20.00
$276
$50.00
$689
$100
$1,379
$500
$6,894
$1,000
$13,788
$5,000
$68,942
$10,000
$137,883
$100,000
$1,378,832
$1,000,000
$13,788,321
Inflation by spending category, 1932–2004
Between 1932 and 2004, food rose the most, up 1640.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 517.4%, against 1278.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.71%
$1,379
Food
4.05%
$1,740
Apparel
2.56%
$617
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 2004
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 1932–2004 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,257
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$1,379
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $244 by
1967, on its way to $1,379 in 2004; 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: 2004
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,379; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 2004: $100 is worth $1,379 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2004/