$100 in 1935 is worth $205 in 1957,
because prices increased 105.1% over that period, an average of
3.32% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$205
in 1957
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
105.1%
Average inflation rate
3.32% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$205
Price difference ($100 base)
$105
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1957
28.1
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
$100 in 1935 → 1957
$205
$100 in 1957 → 1935
$48.75
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1957
Between 1935 and 1957, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 28.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 105.1%, which works out to an average of
3.32% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.49 buys in 1957: the 1935 dollar
lost 51.2% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 1957 at the same ratio, 2.05: $1,000 becomes
$2,051, and $10,000 becomes $20,511.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1957
$1.00
$2.05
$5.00
$10.26
$10.00
$20.51
$20.00
$41.02
$50.00
$103
$100
$205
$500
$1,026
$1,000
$2,051
$5,000
$10,255
$10,000
$20,511
$100,000
$205,109
$1,000,000
$2,051,095
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1957
Between 1935 and 1957, food rose the most, up 133.1%, while medical care rose the least, up 93.1%, against 105.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1957, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.32%
$205
Food
3.92%
$233
Apparel
3.52%
$214
Transportation
3.08%
$195
Medical care
3.04%
$193
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 1957
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1957 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
1950–1957
2.22%
16.6%
$205
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $142 by
1946, on its way to $205 in 1957; 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 1957, prices rose 3.3% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $205; the year's average CPI of 28.1 is the level
behind every 1957 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 3.3% in 1957, up from 1956’s 1.5% and
the sharpest increase since the Korean War price surge of 1951. The jump
fed a growing debate among economists over “cost-push” inflation, prices
climbing from rising wages and material costs rather than excess demand,
a debate that would recur for the next quarter century. The Federal
Reserve tightened policy to fight it, and by August the tighter money
combined with falling business investment to tip the economy into a
recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating. The Cold War took a technological turn that October, when the
Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, on the
4th, stunning the American public and setting off both the Space Race and
a surge in federal science and defense spending the following year. Civil
rights reached a crisis that September in Little Rock, Arkansas: after
Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block nine Black
students from Central High School, Eisenhower federalized the Guard and
sent the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the Supreme Court’s
desegregation order. Consumer prices finished 1957 183.8% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at $1.00 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1957: $100 is worth $205 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1957/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1957. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1957/