$100 in 1934 is worth $1,738 in 2013,
because prices increased 1638.5% over that period, an average of
3.68% a year.
$100 in 1934 has
the same buying power as
$1,738
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1638.5%
Average inflation rate
3.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,738
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,638
CPI in 1934
13.4
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1934
3.08%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1934 → 2013
$1,738
$100 in 2013 → 1934
$5.75
What happened to prices between 1934 and 2013
Between 1934 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.4 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1638.5%, which works out to an average of
3.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1934 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2013: the 1934 dollar
lost 94.2% of its purchasing power over
these 79 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.1% in 1934, the first annual increase since 1926;
every year from 1927 through 1933 had been flat or falling,
so the turn marked a real break after eight years without a single gain.
Currency policy did some of the work. The Gold Reserve Act, signed January
30, formally devalued the dollar by raising the official price of gold from
$20.67 to $35 an ounce, part of the administration’s deliberate effort to
reflate prices after four straight years of deflation. Financial regulation
tightened at the same time: the Securities Exchange Act of June 6 created
the Securities and Exchange Commission to police stock exchanges and enforce
disclosure rules, a direct response to the speculation blamed for the 1929
crash. The recovery was fragile and unevenly felt, especially on the Great
Plains, where drought had turned overplowed farmland to dust. Over May 9-11,
high winds lifted an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil into the air,
darkening skies as far away as Washington and New York and giving city
readers who had never seen a wheat field a first glimpse of the disaster
building in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Consumer prices stood 35.4% above
their 1913 level, still well below the 1929 peak but rising
for the first time since the Depression began. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
Every 1934 amount converts to 2013 at the same ratio, 17.38: $1,000 becomes
$17,385, and $10,000 becomes $173,849.
Amount in 1934
Value in 2013
$1.00
$17.38
$5.00
$86.92
$10.00
$174
$20.00
$348
$50.00
$869
$100
$1,738
$500
$8,692
$1,000
$17,385
$5,000
$86,924
$10,000
$173,849
$100,000
$1,738,485
$1,000,000
$17,384,851
Inflation by spending category, 1934–2013
Between 1934 and 2013, food rose the most, up 1943.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 518.5%, against 1638.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1934
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1934 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.68%
$1,738
Food
3.89%
$2,043
Apparel
2.33%
$619
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1934: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1934 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1934–2013 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1934, at end
1934–1940
0.73%
4.5%
$104
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$180
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$221
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$290
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$615
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$975
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,285
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,627
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,738
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1934
$100 from 1934 had already become $368 by
1974, on its way to $1,738 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 1934 had the buying
power of $1,738; 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 1934 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,738 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1934 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-2013/