$100 in 1933 is worth $843 in 1986,
because prices increased 743.1% over that period, an average of
4.10% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$843
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
743.1%
Average inflation rate
4.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$843
Price difference ($100 base)
$743
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1933 → 1986
$843
$100 in 1986 → 1933
$11.86
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1986
Between 1933 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 743.1%, which works out to an average of
4.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1986: the 1933 dollar
lost 88.1% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 1986 at the same ratio, 8.43: $1,000 becomes
$8,431, and $10,000 becomes $84,308.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1986
$1.00
$8.43
$5.00
$42.15
$10.00
$84.31
$20.00
$169
$50.00
$422
$100
$843
$500
$4,215
$1,000
$8,431
$5,000
$42,154
$10,000
$84,308
$100,000
$843,077
$1,000,000
$8,430,769
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1986
Between 1933 and 1986, food rose the most, up 948.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 463.3%, against 743.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.10%
$843
Food
4.53%
$1,048
Apparel
3.32%
$563
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 1986
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (1.06% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1933–1986 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$634
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$843
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $224 by
1959, on its way to $843 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $843; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1986: $100 is worth $843 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1986/