$100 in 1935 is worth $102 in 1940,
because prices increased 2.2% over that period, an average of
0.43% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$102
in 1940
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2.2%
Average inflation rate
0.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$102
Price difference ($100 base)
$2.19
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1940
14
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1940
0.72%
$100 in 1935 → 1940
$102
$100 in 1940 → 1935
$97.86
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1940
Between 1935 and 1940, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 14.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2.2%, which works out to an average of
0.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.98 buys in 1940: the 1935 dollar
lost 2.1% of its purchasing power over
these 5 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 1940 at the same ratio, 1.02: $1,000 becomes
$1,022, and $10,000 becomes $10,219.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1940
$1.00
$1.02
$5.00
$5.11
$10.00
$10.22
$20.00
$20.44
$50.00
$51.09
$100
$102
$500
$511
$1,000
$1,022
$5,000
$5,109
$10,000
$10,219
$100,000
$102,190
$1,000,000
$1,021,898
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1940
Between 1935 and 1940, apparel rose the most, up 4.8%, while food fell 3.2%, against 2.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1940, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.43%
$102
Apparel
0.94%
$105
Medical care
0.39%
$102
Transportation
0.00%
$100
Food
-0.65%
$96.77
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 $105 by
1937, on its way to $102 in 1940; 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 prices fell 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1940, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $102; the year's average CPI of 14 is the level
behind every 1940 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1940, snapping 1939’s decline
and marking the first increase since 1937. The gain was modest, and the CPI
still stood 18.1% below its 1929 peak, a reminder of how far
the recovery from the Depression’s trough had left to go even as defense
orders from Britain and France began reaching American factories. War was
already reshaping domestic policy well before it touched American soil.
Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act that September, the
country’s first peacetime draft, requiring men aged 21 to 35 to register and
authorizing the induction of up to 900,000 men a year, more than a year
before Pearl Harbor. That November, Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented
third term, defeating Republican Wendell Willkie after campaigning on
keeping the United States out of the war then consuming Europe and Asia. The
promise would not hold much longer: within two years, wartime demand would
push consumer prices up faster than at any point since the aftermath of
World War I. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the federal minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour, the level set the previous October under
the Fair Labor Standards Act.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1940: $100 is worth $102 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1940/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1940. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1940/