$100 in 1933 is worth $207 in 1954,
because prices increased 106.9% over that period, an average of
3.52% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$207
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
106.9%
Average inflation rate
3.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$207
Price difference ($100 base)
$107
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1933 → 1954
$207
$100 in 1954 → 1933
$48.33
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1954
Between 1933 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 106.9%, which works out to an average of
3.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1954: the 1933 dollar
lost 51.7% of its purchasing power over
these 21 years.
Consumer prices fell 5.1% in 1933, a smaller decline than 1932’s
but enough to complete a four-year slide of 24.0% from the 1929
peak. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the trough of that
contraction to March 1933, closing out the longest downturn in its
chronology, one that had run 43 months since August 1929. The bottom
arrived alongside a change in government: Franklin D. Roosevelt was
inaugurated March 4 and, within 48 hours, ordered every bank in the country
closed to halt a fresh round of runs. Congress passed the Emergency Banking
Act on March 9, letting solvent banks reopen under federal supervision, and
the panic that had been building for months broke almost immediately. The
administration moved on the currency next: Executive Order 6102, issued
April 5, required Americans to turn in most gold coin, bullion, and
certificates to the Federal Reserve, taking the country off the domestic
gold standard (formal devaluation of the dollar followed the next January).
Congress capped the year’s banking overhaul in June with the Banking Act of
1933, commonly called Glass-Steagall, which created the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation and separated commercial banking from investment
banking. Even after four straight years of falling prices, the CPI still
stood 31.3% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
Every 1933 amount converts to 1954 at the same ratio, 2.07: $1,000 becomes
$2,069, and $10,000 becomes $20,692.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1954
$1.00
$2.07
$5.00
$10.35
$10.00
$20.69
$20.00
$41.38
$50.00
$103
$100
$207
$500
$1,035
$1,000
$2,069
$5,000
$10,346
$10,000
$20,692
$100,000
$206,923
$1,000,000
$2,069,231
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1954
Between 1933 and 1954, food rose the most, up 171.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 129.3%, against 106.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.52%
$207
Food
4.86%
$271
Apparel
4.03%
$229
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1933: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1933 to 1954
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (1.06% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1933–1954 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1933, at end
1933–1940
1.06%
7.7%
$108
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$185
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$207
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $133 by
1943, on its way to $207 in 1954; 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 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $207; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1954: $100 is worth $207 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1954/