$100 in 1933 is worth $342 in 1973,
because prices increased 241.5% over that period, an average of
3.12% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$342
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
241.5%
Average inflation rate
3.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$342
Price difference ($100 base)
$242
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1933 → 1973
$342
$100 in 1973 → 1933
$29.28
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1973
Between 1933 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 241.5%, which works out to an average of
3.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1973: the 1933 dollar
lost 70.7% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 1973 at the same ratio, 3.42: $1,000 becomes
$3,415, and $10,000 becomes $34,154.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1973
$1.00
$3.42
$5.00
$17.08
$10.00
$34.15
$20.00
$68.31
$50.00
$171
$100
$342
$500
$1,708
$1,000
$3,415
$5,000
$17,077
$10,000
$34,154
$100,000
$341,538
$1,000,000
$3,415,385
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1973
Between 1933 and 1973, food rose the most, up 363.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 243.6%, against 241.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.12%
$342
Food
3.91%
$463
Apparel
3.13%
$344
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 1973
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 1933–1973 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$228
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$298
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$342
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $205 by
1953, on its way to $342 in 1973; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1973
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $342; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1973: $100 is worth $342 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1973/