$100 in 1935 is worth $360 in 1974,
because prices increased 259.9% over that period, an average of
3.34% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$360
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
259.9%
Average inflation rate
3.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$360
Price difference ($100 base)
$260
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1935 → 1974
$360
$100 in 1974 → 1935
$27.79
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1974
Between 1935 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 259.9%, which works out to an average of
3.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1974: the 1935 dollar
lost 72.2% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1974 at the same ratio, 3.60: $1,000 becomes
$3,599, and $10,000 becomes $35,985.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1974
$1.00
$3.60
$5.00
$17.99
$10.00
$35.99
$20.00
$71.97
$50.00
$180
$100
$360
$500
$1,799
$1,000
$3,599
$5,000
$17,993
$10,000
$35,985
$100,000
$359,854
$1,000,000
$3,598,540
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1974
Between 1935 and 1974, food rose the most, up 344.4%, while transportation rose the least, up 222.5%, against 259.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.34%
$360
Food
3.90%
$444
Medical care
3.72%
$416
Apparel
3.14%
$334
Transportation
3.05%
$323
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 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1974 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
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$360
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $196 by
1955, on its way to $360 in 1974; 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: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $360; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1974: $100 is worth $360 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1974/