$100 in 1935 is worth $190 in 1951,
because prices increased 89.8% over that period, an average of
4.09% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$190
in 1951
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
89.8%
Average inflation rate
4.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$190
Price difference ($100 base)
$89.78
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1951
26
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
$100 in 1935 → 1951
$190
$100 in 1951 → 1935
$52.69
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1951
Between 1935 and 1951, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 26.
Cumulatively, prices increased 89.8%, which works out to an average of
4.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.53 buys in 1951: the 1935 dollar
lost 47.3% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1951 at the same ratio, 1.90: $1,000 becomes
$1,898, and $10,000 becomes $18,978.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1951
$1.00
$1.90
$5.00
$9.49
$10.00
$18.98
$20.00
$37.96
$50.00
$94.89
$100
$190
$500
$949
$1,000
$1,898
$5,000
$9,489
$10,000
$18,978
$100,000
$189,781
$1,000,000
$1,897,810
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1951
Between 1935 and 1951, food rose the most, up 127.4%, while medical care rose the least, up 55.9%, against 89.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1951, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.09%
$190
Food
5.27%
$227
Apparel
4.78%
$211
Transportation
3.36%
$170
Medical care
2.81%
$156
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–).
Decade by decade: 1935 to 1951
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 7.88% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1951 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1935, at end
1935–1940
0.43%
2.2%
$102
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$176
1950–1951
7.88%
7.9%
$190
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $126 by
1943, on its way to $190 in 1951; 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.
In 1951, prices rose 7.9% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $190; the year's average CPI of 26 is the level
behind every 1951 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1951: $100 is worth $190 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1951/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1951. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1951/