$100 in 1933 is worth $1,048 in 1991,
because prices increased 947.7% over that period, an average of
4.13% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,048
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
947.7%
Average inflation rate
4.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,048
Price difference ($100 base)
$948
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1933 → 1991
$1,048
$100 in 1991 → 1933
$9.54
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1991
Between 1933 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 947.7%, which works out to an average of
4.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1991: the 1933 dollar
lost 90.5% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 1991 at the same ratio, 10.48: $1,000 becomes
$10,477, and $10,000 becomes $104,769.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1991
$1.00
$10.48
$5.00
$52.38
$10.00
$105
$20.00
$210
$50.00
$524
$100
$1,048
$500
$5,238
$1,000
$10,477
$5,000
$52,385
$10,000
$104,769
$100,000
$1,047,692
$1,000,000
$10,476,923
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1991
Between 1933 and 1991, food rose the most, up 1210.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 584.6%, against 947.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.13%
$1,048
Food
4.54%
$1,311
Apparel
3.37%
$685
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 1991
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 1933–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$1,048
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $230 by
1961, on its way to $1,048 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,048; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1991: $100 is worth $1,048 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1991/