U.S. inflation · 1933–2024

Value of $100 in 1933, adjusted to 2024

$100 in 1933 is worth $2,413 in 2024, because prices increased 2313.0% over that period, an average of 3.56% a year.

$100 in 1933 has the same buying power as

$2,413

in 2024

$100$1.3k$2.4k19331956197920012024$100 · 1933$2.4k · 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change2313.0%
Average inflation rate3.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)$2,413
Price difference ($100 base)$2,313
CPI in 193313
CPI in 2024313.689
Inflation in 1933-5.11%
Inflation in 20242.95%
$100 in 1933 → 2024$2,413
$100 in 2024 → 1933$4.14

What happened to prices between 1933 and 2024

Between 1933 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 313.689. Cumulatively, prices increased 2313.0%, which works out to an average of 3.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what $0.04 buys in 2024: the 1933 dollar lost 95.9% of its purchasing power over these 91 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.

More about inflation in 1933 →

Common amounts: 1933 dollars in 2024

Every 1933 amount converts to 2024 at the same ratio, 24.13: $1,000 becomes $24,130, and $10,000 becomes $241,299.

Amount in 1933Value in 2024
$1.00$24.13
$5.00$121
$10.00$241
$20.00$483
$50.00$1,206
$100$2,413
$500$12,065
$1,000$24,130
$5,000$120,650
$10,000$241,299
$100,000$2,412,992
$1,000,000$24,129,923

Inflation by spending category, 1933–2024

Between 1933 and 2024, food rose the most, up 3075.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 599.4%, against 2313.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933 spending costs in 2024, by category:

Category Avg. yearly inflation $100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U) 3.56% $2,413
Food 3.87% $3,176
Apparel 2.16% $699

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 2024

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 1933–2024 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
2010–2020 1.73% 18.7% $1,991
2020–2024 4.93% 21.2% $2,413

Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933

$100 from 1933 had already become $502 by 1978, on its way to $2,413 in 2024; 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.

Year CPI Inflation rate $100 from 1933
1933 13 -5.1% $100
1938 14.1 -2.1% $108
1943 17.3 6.1% $133
1948 24.1 8.1% $185
1953 26.7 0.8% $205
1958 28.9 2.8% $222
1963 30.6 1.3% $235
1968 34.8 4.2% $268
1973 44.4 6.2% $342
1978 65.2 7.6% $502
1983 99.6 3.2% $766
1988 118.3 4.1% $910
1993 144.5 3.0% $1,112
1998 163 1.6% $1,254
2003 184 2.3% $1,415
2008 215.303 3.8% $1,656
2013 232.957 1.5% $1,792
2018 251.107 2.4% $1,932
2023 304.702 4.1% $2,344
2024 313.689 2.9% $2,413

Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.

The destination year: 2024

In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1933 had the buying power of $2,413; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level behind every 2024 figure on this page.

2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon, below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.

The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7% kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.

Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election, attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices in 2025.

More about inflation in 2024 →

Cite this page

MLA: “Inflation from 1933 to 2024: $100 is worth $2,413 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2024/

APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-2024/

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages (series CUUR0000SA0; category indexes listed on the data sources page). See how these numbers are calculated.