$100 in 1933 is worth $1,172 in 1995,
because prices increased 1072.3% over that period, an average of
4.05% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,172
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1072.3%
Average inflation rate
4.05% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,172
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,072
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1933 → 1995
$1,172
$100 in 1995 → 1933
$8.53
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1995
Between 1933 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1072.3%, which works out to an average of
4.05% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1995: the 1933 dollar
lost 91.5% of its purchasing power over
these 62 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 1995 at the same ratio, 11.72: $1,000 becomes
$11,723, and $10,000 becomes $117,231.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1995
$1.00
$11.72
$5.00
$58.62
$10.00
$117
$20.00
$234
$50.00
$586
$100
$1,172
$500
$5,862
$1,000
$11,723
$5,000
$58,615
$10,000
$117,231
$100,000
$1,172,308
$1,000,000
$11,723,077
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1995
Between 1933 and 1995, food rose the most, up 1326.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 602.1%, against 1072.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.05%
$1,172
Food
4.38%
$1,427
Apparel
3.19%
$702
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 1995
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 1933–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$1,172
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $235 by
1963, on its way to $1,172 in 1995; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,172; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1995: $100 is worth $1,172 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1995/