$100 in 1935 is worth $994 in 1991,
because prices increased 894.2% over that period, an average of
4.19% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$994
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
894.2%
Average inflation rate
4.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$994
Price difference ($100 base)
$894
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1935 → 1991
$994
$100 in 1991 → 1935
$10.06
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1991
Between 1935 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 894.2%, which works out to an average of
4.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1991: the 1935 dollar
lost 89.9% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 1991 at the same ratio, 9.94: $1,000 becomes
$9,942, and $10,000 becomes $99,416.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1991
$1.00
$9.94
$5.00
$49.71
$10.00
$99.42
$20.00
$199
$50.00
$497
$100
$994
$500
$4,971
$1,000
$9,942
$5,000
$49,708
$10,000
$99,416
$100,000
$994,161
$1,000,000
$9,941,606
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1991
Between 1935 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 1635.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 518.7%, against 894.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.19%
$994
Medical care
5.23%
$1,735
Food
4.37%
$1,099
Transportation
3.94%
$872
Apparel
3.31%
$619
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 1991
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 1935–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$994
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $223 by
1963, on its way to $994 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $994; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1991: $100 is worth $994 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1991/