$100 in 1933 is worth $1,821 in 2014,
because prices increased 1721.0% over that period, an average of
3.65% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,821
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1721.0%
Average inflation rate
3.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,821
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,721
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1933 → 2014
$1,821
$100 in 2014 → 1933
$5.49
What happened to prices between 1933 and 2014
Between 1933 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1721.0%, which works out to an average of
3.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2014: the 1933 dollar
lost 94.5% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 2014 at the same ratio, 18.21: $1,000 becomes
$18,210, and $10,000 becomes $182,105.
Amount in 1933
Value in 2014
$1.00
$18.21
$5.00
$91.05
$10.00
$182
$20.00
$364
$50.00
$911
$100
$1,821
$500
$9,105
$1,000
$18,210
$5,000
$91,052
$10,000
$182,105
$100,000
$1,821,046
$1,000,000
$18,210,462
Inflation by spending category, 1933–2014
Between 1933 and 2014, food rose the most, up 2233.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 578.3%, against 1721.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.65%
$1,821
Food
3.97%
$2,334
Apparel
2.39%
$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 2014
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 1933–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,821
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $342 by
1973, on its way to $1,821 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,821; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,821 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2014/