$100 in 1935 is worth $1,145 in 1996,
because prices increased 1045.3% over that period, an average of
4.08% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,145
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1045.3%
Average inflation rate
4.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,145
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,045
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1935 → 1996
$1,145
$100 in 1996 → 1935
$8.73
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1996
Between 1935 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1045.3%, which works out to an average of
4.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1996: the 1935 dollar
lost 91.3% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1996 at the same ratio, 11.45: $1,000 becomes
$11,453, and $10,000 becomes $114,526.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1996
$1.00
$11.45
$5.00
$57.26
$10.00
$115
$20.00
$229
$50.00
$573
$100
$1,145
$500
$5,726
$1,000
$11,453
$5,000
$57,263
$10,000
$114,526
$100,000
$1,145,255
$1,000,000
$11,452,555
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1996
Between 1935 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 2137.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 533.2%, against 1045.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.08%
$1,145
Medical care
5.23%
$2,237
Food
4.21%
$1,236
Transportation
3.86%
$1,007
Apparel
3.07%
$633
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 1996
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 1935–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$1,145
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $230 by
1965, on its way to $1,145 in 1996; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,145; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1996: $100 is worth $1,145 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1996/