$100 in 1935 is worth $664 in 1981,
because prices increased 563.5% over that period, an average of
4.20% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$664
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
563.5%
Average inflation rate
4.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$664
Price difference ($100 base)
$564
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1935 → 1981
$664
$100 in 1981 → 1935
$15.07
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1981
Between 1935 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 563.5%, which works out to an average of
4.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1981: the 1935 dollar
lost 84.9% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 1981 at the same ratio, 6.64: $1,000 becomes
$6,635, and $10,000 becomes $66,350.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1981
$1.00
$6.64
$5.00
$33.18
$10.00
$66.35
$20.00
$133
$50.00
$332
$100
$664
$500
$3,318
$1,000
$6,635
$5,000
$33,175
$10,000
$66,350
$100,000
$663,504
$1,000,000
$6,635,036
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1981
Between 1935 and 1981, medical care rose the most, up 712.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 358.2%, against 563.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.20%
$664
Medical care
4.66%
$813
Food
4.49%
$755
Transportation
4.18%
$656
Apparel
3.36%
$458
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1981 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
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$664
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $205 by
1957, on its way to $664 in 1981; 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: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $664; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1981: $100 is worth $664 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1981/