$100 in 1932 is worth $1,676 in 2012,
because prices increased 1575.9% over that period, an average of
3.59% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,676
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1575.9%
Average inflation rate
3.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,676
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,576
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1932 → 2012
$1,676
$100 in 2012 → 1932
$5.97
What happened to prices between 1932 and 2012
Between 1932 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1575.9%, which works out to an average of
3.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2012: the 1932 dollar
lost 94.0% of its purchasing power over
these 80 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 2012 at the same ratio, 16.76: $1,000 becomes
$16,759, and $10,000 becomes $167,587.
Amount in 1932
Value in 2012
$1.00
$16.76
$5.00
$83.79
$10.00
$168
$20.00
$335
$50.00
$838
$100
$1,676
$500
$8,379
$1,000
$16,759
$5,000
$83,793
$10,000
$167,587
$100,000
$1,675,869
$1,000,000
$16,758,686
Inflation by spending category, 1932–2012
Between 1932 and 2012, food rose the most, up 2084.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 547.5%, against 1575.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.59%
$1,676
Food
3.93%
$2,185
Apparel
2.36%
$648
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 2012
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 1932–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,676
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $305 by
1972, on its way to $1,676 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,676; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,676 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2012/