$100 in 1933 is worth $466 in 1977,
because prices increased 366.2% over that period, an average of
3.56% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$466
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
366.2%
Average inflation rate
3.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$466
Price difference ($100 base)
$366
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1933 → 1977
$466
$100 in 1977 → 1933
$21.45
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1977
Between 1933 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 366.2%, which works out to an average of
3.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1977: the 1933 dollar
lost 78.5% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 1977 at the same ratio, 4.66: $1,000 becomes
$4,662, and $10,000 becomes $46,615.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1977
$1.00
$4.66
$5.00
$23.31
$10.00
$46.62
$20.00
$93.23
$50.00
$233
$100
$466
$500
$2,331
$1,000
$4,662
$5,000
$23,308
$10,000
$46,615
$100,000
$466,154
$1,000,000
$4,661,538
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1977
Between 1933 and 1977, food rose the most, up 529.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 318.1%, against 366.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.56%
$466
Food
4.27%
$630
Apparel
3.30%
$418
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 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (1.06% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1933–1977 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
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$466
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $206 by
1955, on its way to $466 in 1977; 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: 1977
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $466; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1977: $100 is worth $466 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1977/