$100 in 1933 is worth $438 in 1976,
because prices increased 337.7% over that period, an average of
3.49% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$438
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
337.7%
Average inflation rate
3.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$438
Price difference ($100 base)
$338
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1933 → 1976
$438
$100 in 1976 → 1933
$22.85
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1976
Between 1933 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 337.7%, which works out to an average of
3.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.23 buys in 1976: the 1933 dollar
lost 77.2% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 1976 at the same ratio, 4.38: $1,000 becomes
$4,377, and $10,000 becomes $43,769.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1976
$1.00
$4.38
$5.00
$21.88
$10.00
$43.77
$20.00
$87.54
$50.00
$219
$100
$438
$500
$2,188
$1,000
$4,377
$5,000
$21,885
$10,000
$43,769
$100,000
$437,692
$1,000,000
$4,376,923
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1976
Between 1933 and 1976, food rose the most, up 492.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 300.0%, against 337.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.49%
$438
Food
4.22%
$592
Apparel
3.28%
$400
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (1.06% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1933–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$438
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $206 by
1955, on its way to $438 in 1976; 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: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $438; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1976: $100 is worth $438 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1976/