$100 in 1933 is worth $1,235 in 1997,
because prices increased 1134.6% over that period, an average of
4.01% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,235
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1134.6%
Average inflation rate
4.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,235
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,135
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1933 → 1997
$1,235
$100 in 1997 → 1933
$8.10
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1997
Between 1933 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1134.6%, which works out to an average of
4.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1997: the 1933 dollar
lost 91.9% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 1997 at the same ratio, 12.35: $1,000 becomes
$12,346, and $10,000 becomes $123,462.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1997
$1.00
$12.35
$5.00
$61.73
$10.00
$123
$20.00
$247
$50.00
$617
$100
$1,235
$500
$6,173
$1,000
$12,346
$5,000
$61,731
$10,000
$123,462
$100,000
$1,234,615
$1,000,000
$12,346,154
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1997
Between 1933 and 1997, food rose the most, up 1412.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 606.9%, against 1134.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.01%
$1,235
Food
4.34%
$1,513
Apparel
3.10%
$707
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 1997
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 1933–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$1,235
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $235 by
1963, on its way to $1,235 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,235; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 1997: $100 is worth $1,235 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1997/