$100 in 1933 is worth $379 in 1974,
because prices increased 279.2% over that period, an average of
3.30% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$379
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
279.2%
Average inflation rate
3.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$379
Price difference ($100 base)
$279
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1933 → 1974
$379
$100 in 1974 → 1933
$26.37
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1974
Between 1933 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 279.2%, which works out to an average of
3.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1974: the 1933 dollar
lost 73.6% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1974 at the same ratio, 3.79: $1,000 becomes
$3,792, and $10,000 becomes $37,923.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1974
$1.00
$3.79
$5.00
$18.96
$10.00
$37.92
$20.00
$75.85
$50.00
$190
$100
$379
$500
$1,896
$1,000
$3,792
$5,000
$18,962
$10,000
$37,923
$100,000
$379,231
$1,000,000
$3,792,308
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1974
Between 1933 and 1974, food rose the most, up 429.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 269.1%, against 279.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.30%
$379
Food
4.15%
$530
Apparel
3.24%
$369
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 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (1.06% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1933–1974 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
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$379
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $205 by
1953, on its way to $379 in 1974; 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: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $379; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1974: $100 is worth $379 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1974/