$100 in 1933 is worth $1,207 in 1996,
because prices increased 1106.9% over that period, an average of
4.03% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,207
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1106.9%
Average inflation rate
4.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,207
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,107
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1933 → 1996
$1,207
$100 in 1996 → 1933
$8.29
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1996
Between 1933 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1106.9%, which works out to an average of
4.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1996: the 1933 dollar
lost 91.7% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 1996 at the same ratio, 12.07: $1,000 becomes
$12,069, and $10,000 becomes $120,692.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1996
$1.00
$12.07
$5.00
$60.35
$10.00
$121
$20.00
$241
$50.00
$603
$100
$1,207
$500
$6,035
$1,000
$12,069
$5,000
$60,346
$10,000
$120,692
$100,000
$1,206,923
$1,000,000
$12,069,231
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1996
Between 1933 and 1996, food rose the most, up 1374.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 600.5%, against 1106.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.03%
$1,207
Food
4.36%
$1,474
Apparel
3.14%
$701
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 1996
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 1933–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$1,207
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $235 by
1963, on its way to $1,207 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,207; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1996: $100 is worth $1,207 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1996/