$100 in 1935 is worth $415 in 1976,
because prices increased 315.3% over that period, an average of
3.53% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$415
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
315.3%
Average inflation rate
3.53% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$415
Price difference ($100 base)
$315
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1935 → 1976
$415
$100 in 1976 → 1935
$24.08
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1976
Between 1935 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 315.3%, which works out to an average of
3.53% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1976: the 1935 dollar
lost 75.9% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1976 at the same ratio, 4.15: $1,000 becomes
$4,153, and $10,000 becomes $41,533.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1976
$1.00
$4.15
$5.00
$20.77
$10.00
$41.53
$20.00
$83.07
$50.00
$208
$100
$415
$500
$2,077
$1,000
$4,153
$5,000
$20,766
$10,000
$41,533
$100,000
$415,328
$1,000,000
$4,153,285
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1976
Between 1935 and 1976, medical care rose the most, up 409.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 261.5%, against 315.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.53%
$415
Medical care
4.05%
$510
Food
3.99%
$497
Transportation
3.36%
$388
Apparel
3.18%
$362
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$415
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $196 by
1955, on its way to $415 in 1976; 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: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $415; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1976: $100 is worth $415 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1976/