$100 in 1935 is worth $1,190 in 1998,
because prices increased 1089.8% over that period, an average of
4.01% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,190
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1089.8%
Average inflation rate
4.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,190
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,090
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1935 → 1998
$1,190
$100 in 1998 → 1935
$8.40
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1998
Between 1935 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1089.8%, which works out to an average of
4.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1998: the 1935 dollar
lost 91.6% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 1998 at the same ratio, 11.90: $1,000 becomes
$11,898, and $10,000 becomes $118,978.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1998
$1.00
$11.90
$5.00
$59.49
$10.00
$119
$20.00
$238
$50.00
$595
$100
$1,190
$500
$5,949
$1,000
$11,898
$5,000
$59,489
$10,000
$118,978
$100,000
$1,189,781
$1,000,000
$11,897,810
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1998
Between 1935 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 2273.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 539.4%, against 1089.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.01%
$1,190
Medical care
5.16%
$2,374
Food
4.15%
$1,296
Transportation
3.72%
$997
Apparel
2.99%
$639
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 1998
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 1935–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$1,190
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $230 by
1965, on its way to $1,190 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,190; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1998: $100 is worth $1,190 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1998/