$100 in 1933 is worth $1,005 in 1990,
because prices increased 905.4% over that period, an average of
4.13% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,005
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
905.4%
Average inflation rate
4.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,005
Price difference ($100 base)
$905
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1933 → 1990
$1,005
$100 in 1990 → 1933
$9.95
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1990
Between 1933 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 905.4%, which works out to an average of
4.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1990: the 1933 dollar
lost 90.1% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 1990 at the same ratio, 10.05: $1,000 becomes
$10,054, and $10,000 becomes $100,538.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1990
$1.00
$10.05
$5.00
$50.27
$10.00
$101
$20.00
$201
$50.00
$503
$100
$1,005
$500
$5,027
$1,000
$10,054
$5,000
$50,269
$10,000
$100,538
$100,000
$1,005,385
$1,000,000
$10,053,846
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1990
Between 1933 and 1990, food rose the most, up 1173.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 560.1%, against 905.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.13%
$1,005
Food
4.56%
$1,273
Apparel
3.37%
$660
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 1990
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 1933–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$1,005
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $230 by
1961, on its way to $1,005 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,005; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1990: $100 is worth $1,005 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1990/