$100 in 1933 is worth $1,967 in 2019,
because prices increased 1866.6% over that period, an average of
3.52% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$1,967
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1866.6%
Average inflation rate
3.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,967
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,867
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1933 → 2019
$1,967
$100 in 2019 → 1933
$5.08
What happened to prices between 1933 and 2019
Between 1933 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1866.6%, which works out to an average of
3.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2019: the 1933 dollar
lost 94.9% of its purchasing power over
these 86 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 2019 at the same ratio, 19.67: $1,000 becomes
$19,666, and $10,000 becomes $196,659.
Amount in 1933
Value in 2019
$1.00
$19.67
$5.00
$98.33
$10.00
$197
$20.00
$393
$50.00
$983
$100
$1,967
$500
$9,833
$1,000
$19,666
$5,000
$98,330
$10,000
$196,659
$100,000
$1,966,592
$1,000,000
$19,665,923
Inflation by spending category, 1933–2019
Between 1933 and 2019, food rose the most, up 2383.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 559.9%, against 1866.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.52%
$1,967
Food
3.81%
$2,484
Apparel
2.22%
$660
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 2019
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 1933–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,967
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $502 by
1978, on its way to $1,967 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $1,967; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,967 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2019/