$100 in 1915 is worth $136 in 1935,
because prices increased 35.6% over that period, an average of
1.54% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$136
in 1935
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
35.6%
Average inflation rate
1.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$136
Price difference ($100 base)
$35.64
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1935
13.7
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
$100 in 1915 → 1935
$136
$100 in 1935 → 1915
$73.72
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1935
Between 1915 and 1935, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 35.6%, which works out to an average of
1.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1935: the 1915 dollar
lost 26.3% of its purchasing power over
these 20 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1915, the second straight year of near-flat
inflation before the wartime price surges of 1916 through 1918. The year’s
defining event had nothing to do with prices directly: a German submarine
sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast on May 7, killing 128
Americans and hardening U.S. opinion against Germany two years before the
country entered the war. Economically, 1915 was a turning point of a
different kind. A recession that had dragged on since 1913 began lifting as
Britain and France placed growing orders for steel, munitions, and other war
materiel with American manufacturers, and U.S. exports to the Allied powers
climbed sharply through the year. That demand would keep building through
1916, eventually pulling prices up with it. On the regulatory
side, the Federal Trade Commission opened for business in March, taking on
enforcement of the Clayton Antitrust Act that Congress had passed the
previous fall. A first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, unchanged since 1885
and still two years from its first wartime increase.
Every 1915 amount converts to 1935 at the same ratio, 1.36: $1,000 becomes
$1,356, and $10,000 becomes $13,564.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1935
$1.00
$1.36
$5.00
$6.78
$10.00
$13.56
$20.00
$27.13
$50.00
$67.82
$100
$136
$500
$678
$1,000
$1,356
$5,000
$6,782
$10,000
$13,564
$100,000
$135,644
$1,000,000
$1,356,436
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1935
Between 1915 and 1935, apparel rose the most, up 35.9%, while food rose the least, up 24.0%, against 35.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1935, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.54%
$136
Apparel
1.55%
$136
Food
1.08%
$124
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1915: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1915 to 1935
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1930s (3.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1935 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$165
1930–1935
-3.88%
-18.0%
$136
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $173 by
1925, on its way to $136 in 1935; 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 1935, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $136; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1935 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1935: $100 is worth $136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1935/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1935. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1935/