$100 in 1935 is worth $1,112 in 1995,
because prices increased 1012.4% over that period, an average of
4.10% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,112
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1012.4%
Average inflation rate
4.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,112
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,012
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1935 → 1995
$1,112
$100 in 1995 → 1935
$8.99
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1995
Between 1935 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1012.4%, which works out to an average of
4.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1995: the 1935 dollar
lost 91.0% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 1995 at the same ratio, 11.12: $1,000 becomes
$11,124, and $10,000 becomes $111,241.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1995
$1.00
$11.12
$5.00
$55.62
$10.00
$111
$20.00
$222
$50.00
$556
$100
$1,112
$500
$5,562
$1,000
$11,124
$5,000
$55,620
$10,000
$111,241
$100,000
$1,112,409
$1,000,000
$11,124,088
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1995
Between 1935 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 2061.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 534.6%, against 1012.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.10%
$1,112
Medical care
5.26%
$2,162
Food
4.22%
$1,197
Transportation
3.88%
$980
Apparel
3.13%
$635
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 1995
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 1935–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$1,112
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $230 by
1965, on its way to $1,112 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,112; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1995: $100 is worth $1,112 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1995/