$100 in 1933 is worth $1,656 in 2008,
because prices increased 1556.2% over that period, an average of
3.81% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,656
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1556.2%
Average inflation rate
3.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,656
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,556
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1933 → 2008
$1,656
$100 in 2008 → 1933
$6.04
What happened to prices between 1933 and 2008
Between 1933 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1556.2%, which works out to an average of
3.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2008: the 1933 dollar
lost 94.0% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 2008 at the same ratio, 16.56: $1,000 becomes
$16,562, and $10,000 becomes $165,618.
Amount in 1933
Value in 2008
$1.00
$16.56
$5.00
$82.81
$10.00
$166
$20.00
$331
$50.00
$828
$100
$1,656
$500
$8,281
$1,000
$16,562
$5,000
$82,809
$10,000
$165,618
$100,000
$1,656,177
$1,000,000
$16,561,769
Inflation by spending category, 1933–2008
Between 1933 and 2008, food rose the most, up 1958.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 532.5%, against 1556.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.81%
$1,656
Food
4.12%
$2,059
Apparel
2.49%
$632
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 2008
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 1933–2008 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,325
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,656
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $268 by
1968, on its way to $1,656 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,656; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,656 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2008/