$100 in 1935 is worth $230 in 1965,
because prices increased 129.9% over that period, an average of
2.81% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$230
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
129.9%
Average inflation rate
2.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$230
Price difference ($100 base)
$130
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1935 → 1965
$230
$100 in 1965 → 1935
$43.49
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1965
Between 1935 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 129.9%, which works out to an average of
2.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1965: the 1935 dollar
lost 56.5% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1965 at the same ratio, 2.30: $1,000 becomes
$2,299, and $10,000 becomes $22,993.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1965
$1.00
$2.30
$5.00
$11.50
$10.00
$22.99
$20.00
$45.99
$50.00
$115
$100
$230
$500
$1,150
$1,000
$2,299
$5,000
$11,496
$10,000
$22,993
$100,000
$229,927
$1,000,000
$2,299,270
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1965
Between 1935 and 1965, food rose the most, up 159.7%, while transportation rose the least, up 124.6%, against 129.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.81%
$230
Food
3.23%
$260
Medical care
3.06%
$247
Apparel
2.81%
$230
Transportation
2.73%
$225
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 1965
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 1935–1965 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
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$230
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $176 by
1950, on its way to $230 in 1965; 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 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $230; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% 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 1965: $100 is worth $230 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1965/