$100 in 1932 is worth $1,642 in 2011,
because prices increased 1541.9% over that period, an average of
3.61% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,642
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1541.9%
Average inflation rate
3.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,642
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,542
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1932 → 2011
$1,642
$100 in 2011 → 1932
$6.09
What happened to prices between 1932 and 2011
Between 1932 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1541.9%, which works out to an average of
3.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2011: the 1932 dollar
lost 93.9% of its purchasing power over
these 79 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 2011 at the same ratio, 16.42: $1,000 becomes
$16,419, and $10,000 becomes $164,189.
Amount in 1932
Value in 2011
$1.00
$16.42
$5.00
$82.09
$10.00
$164
$20.00
$328
$50.00
$821
$100
$1,642
$500
$8,209
$1,000
$16,419
$5,000
$82,095
$10,000
$164,189
$100,000
$1,641,891
$1,000,000
$16,418,905
Inflation by spending category, 1932–2011
Between 1932 and 2011, food rose the most, up 2029.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 526.2%, against 1541.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.61%
$1,642
Food
3.95%
$2,129
Apparel
2.35%
$626
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 2011
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 1932–2011 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,592
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$1,642
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $305 by
1972, on its way to $1,642 in 2011; 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: 2011
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,642; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 2011: $100 is worth $1,642 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2011/