$100 in 1934 is worth $1,243 in 1999,
because prices increased 1143.3% over that period, an average of
3.95% a year.
$100 in 1934 has
the same buying power as
$1,243
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1143.3%
Average inflation rate
3.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,243
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,143
CPI in 1934
13.4
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1934
3.08%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1934 → 1999
$1,243
$100 in 1999 → 1934
$8.04
What happened to prices between 1934 and 1999
Between 1934 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.4 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1143.3%, which works out to an average of
3.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1934 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1999: the 1934 dollar
lost 92.0% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 1999 at the same ratio, 12.43: $1,000 becomes
$12,433, and $10,000 becomes $124,328.
Amount in 1934
Value in 1999
$1.00
$12.43
$5.00
$62.16
$10.00
$124
$20.00
$249
$50.00
$622
$100
$1,243
$500
$6,216
$1,000
$12,433
$5,000
$62,164
$10,000
$124,328
$100,000
$1,243,284
$1,000,000
$12,432,836
Inflation by spending category, 1934–1999
Between 1934 and 1999, food rose the most, up 1314.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 537.4%, against 1143.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1934
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1934 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.95%
$1,243
Food
4.16%
$1,415
Apparel
2.89%
$637
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 1999
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 1934–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$1,243
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1934
$100 from 1934 had already become $231 by
1964, on its way to $1,243 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1934 had the buying
power of $1,243; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1934 to 1999: $100 is worth $1,243 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1934 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1999/