$100 in 1935 is worth $800 in 1986,
because prices increased 700.0% over that period, an average of
4.16% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$800
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
700.0%
Average inflation rate
4.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$800
Price difference ($100 base)
$700
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1935 → 1986
$800
$100 in 1986 → 1935
$12.50
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1986
Between 1935 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 700.0%, which works out to an average of
4.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1986: the 1935 dollar
lost 87.5% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1986 at the same ratio, 8.00: $1,000 becomes
$8,000, and $10,000 becomes $80,000.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1986
$1.00
$8.00
$5.00
$40.00
$10.00
$80.00
$20.00
$160
$50.00
$400
$100
$800
$500
$4,000
$1,000
$8,000
$5,000
$40,000
$10,000
$80,000
$100,000
$800,000
$1,000,000
$8,000,000
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1986
Between 1935 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 1096.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 409.1%, against 700.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.16%
$800
Medical care
4.99%
$1,196
Food
4.35%
$879
Transportation
3.95%
$720
Apparel
3.24%
$509
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 1986
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 1935–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$800
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $218 by
1961, on its way to $800 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $800; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1986: $100 is worth $800 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1986/