$100 in 1933 is worth $1,792 in 2013,
because prices increased 1692.0% over that period, an average of
3.67% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,792
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1692.0%
Average inflation rate
3.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,792
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,692
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1933 → 2013
$1,792
$100 in 2013 → 1933
$5.58
What happened to prices between 1933 and 2013
Between 1933 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1692.0%, which works out to an average of
3.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2013: the 1933 dollar
lost 94.4% of its purchasing power over
these 80 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 2013 at the same ratio, 17.92: $1,000 becomes
$17,920, and $10,000 becomes $179,198.
Amount in 1933
Value in 2013
$1.00
$17.92
$5.00
$89.60
$10.00
$179
$20.00
$358
$50.00
$896
$100
$1,792
$500
$8,960
$1,000
$17,920
$5,000
$89,599
$10,000
$179,198
$100,000
$1,791,977
$1,000,000
$17,919,769
Inflation by spending category, 1933–2013
Between 1933 and 2013, food rose the most, up 2179.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 577.7%, against 1692.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.67%
$1,792
Food
3.99%
$2,279
Apparel
2.42%
$678
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 2013
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 1933–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,677
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,792
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $342 by
1973, on its way to $1,792 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,792; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,792 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2013/