$100 in 1932 is worth $1,866 in 2019,
because prices increased 1766.1% over that period, an average of
3.42% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$1,866
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1766.1%
Average inflation rate
3.42% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,866
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,766
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1932 → 2019
$1,866
$100 in 2019 → 1932
$5.36
What happened to prices between 1932 and 2019
Between 1932 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1766.1%, which works out to an average of
3.42% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2019: the 1932 dollar
lost 94.6% of its purchasing power over
these 87 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 2019 at the same ratio, 18.66: $1,000 becomes
$18,661, and $10,000 becomes $186,611.
Amount in 1932
Value in 2019
$1.00
$18.66
$5.00
$93.31
$10.00
$187
$20.00
$373
$50.00
$933
$100
$1,866
$500
$9,331
$1,000
$18,661
$5,000
$93,305
$10,000
$186,611
$100,000
$1,866,109
$1,000,000
$18,661,095
Inflation by spending category, 1932–2019
Between 1932 and 2019, food rose the most, up 2314.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 536.2%, against 1766.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.42%
$1,866
Food
3.73%
$2,414
Apparel
2.15%
$636
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 2019
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 1932–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,866
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $442 by
1977, on its way to $1,866 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $1,866; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1932 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,866 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-2019/