$100 in 1935 is worth $105 in 1937,
because prices increased 5.1% over that period, an average of
2.52% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$105
in 1937
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
5.1%
Average inflation rate
2.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$105
Price difference ($100 base)
$5.11
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1937
14.4
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
$100 in 1935 → 1937
$105
$100 in 1937 → 1935
$95.14
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1937
Between 1935 and 1937, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 14.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 5.1%, which works out to an average of
2.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.95 buys in 1937: the 1935 dollar
lost 4.9% of its purchasing power over
these 2 years.
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.
Every 1935 amount converts to 1937 at the same ratio, 1.05: $1,000 becomes
$1,051, and $10,000 becomes $10,511.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1937
$1.00
$1.05
$5.00
$5.26
$10.00
$10.51
$20.00
$21.02
$50.00
$52.55
$100
$105
$500
$526
$1,000
$1,051
$5,000
$5,255
$10,000
$10,511
$100,000
$105,109
$1,000,000
$1,051,095
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1937
Between 1935 and 1937, apparel rose the most, up 5.8%, while medical care rose the least, up 1.0%, against 5.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1937, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.52%
$105
Apparel
2.84%
$106
Food
2.78%
$106
Transportation
1.05%
$102
Medical care
0.49%
$101
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1935: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $101 by
1936, on its way to $105 in 1937; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.6% in 1937, and the smallest rise was 1.5% in 1936.
In 1937, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $105; 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 1935 to 1937: $100 is worth $105 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1937/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1937. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1937/