$100 in 1935 is worth $601 in 1980,
because prices increased 501.5% over that period, an average of
4.07% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$601
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
501.5%
Average inflation rate
4.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$601
Price difference ($100 base)
$501
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1935 → 1980
$601
$100 in 1980 → 1935
$16.63
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1980
Between 1935 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 501.5%, which works out to an average of
4.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1980: the 1935 dollar
lost 83.4% of its purchasing power over
these 45 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 1980 at the same ratio, 6.01: $1,000 becomes
$6,015, and $10,000 becomes $60,146.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1980
$1.00
$6.01
$5.00
$30.07
$10.00
$60.15
$20.00
$120
$50.00
$301
$100
$601
$500
$3,007
$1,000
$6,015
$5,000
$30,073
$10,000
$60,146
$100,000
$601,460
$1,000,000
$6,014,599
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1980
Between 1935 and 1980, medical care rose the most, up 634.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 337.0%, against 501.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.07%
$601
Medical care
4.53%
$734
Food
4.42%
$700
Transportation
4.00%
$585
Apparel
3.33%
$437
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 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$601
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $205 by
1957, on its way to $601 in 1980; 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: 1980
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $601; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1980: $100 is worth $601 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1980/