$100 in 1935 is worth $954 in 1990,
because prices increased 854.0% over that period, an average of
4.19% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$954
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
854.0%
Average inflation rate
4.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$954
Price difference ($100 base)
$854
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1935 → 1990
$954
$100 in 1990 → 1935
$10.48
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1990
Between 1935 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 854.0%, which works out to an average of
4.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1990: the 1935 dollar
lost 89.5% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 1990 at the same ratio, 9.54: $1,000 becomes
$9,540, and $10,000 becomes $95,401.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1990
$1.00
$9.54
$5.00
$47.70
$10.00
$95.40
$20.00
$191
$50.00
$477
$100
$954
$500
$4,770
$1,000
$9,540
$5,000
$47,701
$10,000
$95,401
$100,000
$954,015
$1,000,000
$9,540,146
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1990
Between 1935 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 1496.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 496.6%, against 854.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.19%
$954
Medical care
5.17%
$1,596
Food
4.40%
$1,068
Transportation
3.96%
$849
Apparel
3.30%
$597
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 1990
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 1935–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$954
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $223 by
1963, on its way to $954 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $954; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1990: $100 is worth $954 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1990/