$100 in 1935 is worth $324 in 1973,
because prices increased 224.1% over that period, an average of
3.14% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$324
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
224.1%
Average inflation rate
3.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$324
Price difference ($100 base)
$224
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1935 → 1973
$324
$100 in 1973 → 1935
$30.86
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1973
Between 1935 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 224.1%, which works out to an average of
3.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1973: the 1935 dollar
lost 69.1% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 1973 at the same ratio, 3.24: $1,000 becomes
$3,241, and $10,000 becomes $32,409.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1973
$1.00
$3.24
$5.00
$16.20
$10.00
$32.41
$20.00
$64.82
$50.00
$162
$100
$324
$500
$1,620
$1,000
$3,241
$5,000
$16,204
$10,000
$32,409
$100,000
$324,088
$1,000,000
$3,240,876
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1973
Between 1935 and 1973, food rose the most, up 288.7%, while transportation rose the least, up 190.1%, against 224.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.14%
$324
Food
3.64%
$389
Medical care
3.58%
$380
Apparel
3.03%
$311
Transportation
2.84%
$290
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 1973
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 1935–1973 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$283
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$324
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $195 by
1953, on its way to $324 in 1973; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1973
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $324; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1973: $100 is worth $324 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1973/