$100 in 1935 is worth $226 in 1964,
because prices increased 126.3% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$226
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
126.3%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$226
Price difference ($100 base)
$126
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1935 → 1964
$226
$100 in 1964 → 1935
$44.19
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1964
Between 1935 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 126.3%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1964: the 1935 dollar
lost 55.8% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1964 at the same ratio, 2.26: $1,000 becomes
$2,263, and $10,000 becomes $22,628.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1964
$1.00
$2.26
$5.00
$11.31
$10.00
$22.63
$20.00
$45.26
$50.00
$113
$100
$226
$500
$1,131
$1,000
$2,263
$5,000
$11,314
$10,000
$22,628
$100,000
$226,277
$1,000,000
$2,262,774
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1964
Between 1935 and 1964, food rose the most, up 154.0%, while transportation rose the least, up 121.1%, against 126.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$226
Food
3.27%
$254
Medical care
3.08%
$241
Apparel
2.87%
$227
Transportation
2.77%
$221
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 1964
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 1935–1964 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
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$226
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $174 by
1949, on its way to $226 in 1964; 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 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $226; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1964: $100 is worth $226 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1964/