$100 in 1933 is worth $1,823 in 2015,
because prices increased 1723.2% over that period, an average of
3.60% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,823
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1723.2%
Average inflation rate
3.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,823
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,723
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1933 → 2015
$1,823
$100 in 2015 → 1933
$5.48
What happened to prices between 1933 and 2015
Between 1933 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1723.2%, which works out to an average of
3.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2015: the 1933 dollar
lost 94.5% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2015 at the same ratio, 18.23: $1,000 becomes
$18,232, and $10,000 becomes $182,321.
Amount in 1933
Value in 2015
$1.00
$18.23
$5.00
$91.16
$10.00
$182
$20.00
$365
$50.00
$912
$100
$1,823
$500
$9,116
$1,000
$18,232
$5,000
$91,160
$10,000
$182,321
$100,000
$1,823,208
$1,000,000
$18,232,077
Inflation by spending category, 1933–2015
Between 1933 and 2015, food rose the most, up 2277.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 569.7%, against 1723.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.60%
$1,823
Food
3.94%
$2,377
Apparel
2.35%
$670
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 2015
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 1933–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$1,823
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $342 by
1973, on its way to $1,823 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,823; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 2015: $100 is worth $1,823 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2015/