$100 in 1935 is worth $864 in 1988,
because prices increased 763.5% over that period, an average of
4.15% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$864
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
763.5%
Average inflation rate
4.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$864
Price difference ($100 base)
$764
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1935 → 1988
$864
$100 in 1988 → 1935
$11.58
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1988
Between 1935 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 763.5%, which works out to an average of
4.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1988: the 1935 dollar
lost 88.4% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 1988 at the same ratio, 8.64: $1,000 becomes
$8,635, and $10,000 becomes $86,350.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1988
$1.00
$8.64
$5.00
$43.18
$10.00
$86.35
$20.00
$173
$50.00
$432
$100
$864
$500
$4,318
$1,000
$8,635
$5,000
$43,175
$10,000
$86,350
$100,000
$863,504
$1,000,000
$8,635,036
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1988
Between 1935 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 1258.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 454.8%, against 763.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.15%
$864
Medical care
5.05%
$1,359
Food
4.35%
$953
Transportation
3.91%
$765
Apparel
3.29%
$555
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 1988
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 1935–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$864
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $218 by
1961, on its way to $864 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $864; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1988: $100 is worth $864 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1988/