$100 in 1935 is worth $218 in 1961,
because prices increased 118.2% over that period, an average of
3.05% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$218
in 1961
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
118.2%
Average inflation rate
3.05% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$218
Price difference ($100 base)
$118
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1961
29.9
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
$100 in 1935 → 1961
$218
$100 in 1961 → 1935
$45.82
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1961
Between 1935 and 1961, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 29.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 118.2%, which works out to an average of
3.05% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1961: the 1935 dollar
lost 54.2% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 1961 at the same ratio, 2.18: $1,000 becomes
$2,182, and $10,000 becomes $21,825.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1961
$1.00
$2.18
$5.00
$10.91
$10.00
$21.82
$20.00
$43.65
$50.00
$109
$100
$218
$500
$1,091
$1,000
$2,182
$5,000
$10,912
$10,000
$21,825
$100,000
$218,248
$1,000,000
$2,182,482
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1961
Between 1935 and 1961, food rose the most, up 145.2%, while transportation rose the least, up 112.0%, against 118.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1961, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.05%
$218
Food
3.51%
$245
Medical care
3.16%
$225
Apparel
3.11%
$222
Transportation
2.93%
$212
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 1961
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 1935–1961 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$216
1960–1961
1.01%
1.0%
$218
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $176 by
1948, on its way to $218 in 1961; 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 1961, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $218; the year's average CPI of 29.9 is the level
behind every 1961 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1961: $100 is worth $218 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1961/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1961. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1961/