$100 in 1916 is worth $132 in 1937,
because prices increased 32.1% over that period, an average of
1.33% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$132
in 1937
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
32.1%
Average inflation rate
1.33% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$132
Price difference ($100 base)
$32.11
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1937
14.4
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
$100 in 1916 → 1937
$132
$100 in 1937 → 1916
$75.69
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1937
Between 1916 and 1937, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 14.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 32.1%, which works out to an average of
1.33% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.76 buys in 1937: the 1916 dollar
lost 24.3% of its purchasing power over
these 21 years.
1916 was when World War I first showed up clearly in American price tags.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% for the year, easily the sharpest increase since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI history begins in 1913, as factories ran
flat out to fill steel, munitions, and food orders from Britain and France.
Railroad workers felt the squeeze from rising living costs enough to threaten
a nationwide strike; Congress headed it off in September with the Adamson
Act, which set an eight-hour standard workday for interstate rail employees,
the first federal law of its kind covering private-sector hours. Washington
was also preparing more directly for war: the National Defense Act, signed
in June, expanded the Army and National Guard and funded new
government-owned munitions plants, adding another source of demand to an
economy already running hot. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in November
largely on having kept the country out of the fighting so far, a promise
that would not survive the following spring. A first-class stamp still cost
2 cents, one of the few prices that had not yet moved.
Every 1916 amount converts to 1937 at the same ratio, 1.32: $1,000 becomes
$1,321, and $10,000 becomes $13,211.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1937
$1.00
$1.32
$5.00
$6.61
$10.00
$13.21
$20.00
$26.42
$50.00
$66.06
$100
$132
$500
$661
$1,000
$1,321
$5,000
$6,606
$10,000
$13,211
$100,000
$132,110
$1,000,000
$1,321,101
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1937
Between 1916 and 1937, apparel rose the most, up 31.0%, while food rose the least, up 15.9%, against 32.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1937, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.33%
$132
Apparel
1.29%
$131
Food
0.71%
$116
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1916: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1916 to 1937
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1930s (2.1% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1937 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$153
1930–1937
-2.09%
-13.8%
$132
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $162 by
1926, on its way to $132 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 1916 had the buying
power of $132; 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 1916 to 1937: $100 is worth $132 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1937/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1937. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1937/