$100 in 1914 is worth $144 in 1937,
because prices increased 44.0% over that period, an average of
1.60% a year.
$100 in 1914 has
the same buying power as
$144
in 1937
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
44.0%
Average inflation rate
1.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$144
Price difference ($100 base)
$44.00
CPI in 1914
10
CPI in 1937
14.4
Inflation in 1914
1.01%
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
$100 in 1914 → 1937
$144
$100 in 1937 → 1914
$69.44
What happened to prices between 1914 and 1937
Between 1914 and 1937, the Consumer Price Index went from 10 to 14.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 44.0%, which works out to an average of
1.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1914 bought what
$0.69 buys in 1937: the 1914 dollar
lost 30.6% of its purchasing power over
these 23 years.
Consumer prices barely moved in 1914, rising just 1.0% for the year, even as
the country’s financial plumbing was rebuilt from the ground up. The Federal
Reserve Banks, created by the Federal Reserve Act signed the previous
December, opened their doors on November 16, giving the U.S. a central bank
for the first time since the 1830s. Weeks earlier, the outbreak of war in
Europe had spooked the New York Stock Exchange into closing for more than
four months, the longest shutdown in its history, as officials worried
European investors would dump American securities for gold. Domestically, the
bigger story was labor: Henry Ford’s decision to pay factory workers $5 a
day, announced in January, roughly doubled wages on his assembly lines and
pushed other manufacturers to raise pay just to keep workers from leaving. A
first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, a price that had held since 1885 and
would keep holding for three more years, even as the war reshaping Europe
began pulling the American economy toward the sustained wartime inflation of
1917.
Every 1914 amount converts to 1937 at the same ratio, 1.44: $1,000 becomes
$1,440, and $10,000 becomes $14,400.
Amount in 1914
Value in 1937
$1.00
$1.44
$5.00
$7.20
$10.00
$14.40
$20.00
$28.80
$50.00
$72.00
$100
$144
$500
$720
$1,000
$1,440
$5,000
$7,200
$10,000
$14,400
$100,000
$144,000
$1,000,000
$1,440,000
Inflation by spending category, 1914–1937
Between 1914 and 1937, apparel rose the most, up 46.7%, while food rose the least, up 28.4%, against 44.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1914
spending costs in 1937, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1914 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.60%
$144
Apparel
1.68%
$147
Food
1.09%
$128
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1914: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1914 to 1937
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 12.25% a year, and fell in the 1930s (2.1% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1914–1937 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1914, at end
1914–1920
12.25%
100.0%
$200
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$167
1930–1937
-2.09%
-13.8%
$144
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1914
$100 from 1914 had already become $175 by
1925, on its way to $144 in 1937; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1937, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1914 had the buying
power of $144; the year's average CPI of 14.4 is the level
behind every 1937 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% in 1937, the fastest pace since before the
Depression and the fourth straight year of gains, leaving prices 10.8% above
their 1933 trough though still 15.8% below the
1929 peak. The recovery did not last the year. The National
Bureau of Economic Research dates a new business cycle peak to that May, the
start of what became known as the Recession of 1937-38. Policy tightened on
two fronts at once: the Federal Reserve had doubled bank reserve
requirements over the preceding year to head off inflation it worried was
building, and the federal government pulled back its own spending even as
new Social Security payroll taxes began draining money from paychecks
months before the first benefit checks went out. Together they choked off a
recovery that had not yet reached its pre-Depression footing. Not every
milestone that year was economic. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic
on May 27 after four years of construction, at the time the longest
suspension bridge span in the world, a rare bright spot in a year that would
end with the economy sliding backward again. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1914 to 1937: $100 is worth $144 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1937/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1914 to 1937. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1937/