$100 in 1935 is worth $1,216 in 1999,
because prices increased 1116.1% over that period, an average of
3.98% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,216
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1116.1%
Average inflation rate
3.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,216
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,116
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1935 → 1999
$1,216
$100 in 1999 → 1935
$8.22
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1999
Between 1935 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1116.1%, which works out to an average of
3.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.08 buys in 1999: the 1935 dollar
lost 91.8% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 1999 at the same ratio, 12.16: $1,000 becomes
$12,161, and $10,000 becomes $121,606.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1999
$1.00
$12.16
$5.00
$60.80
$10.00
$122
$20.00
$243
$50.00
$608
$100
$1,216
$500
$6,080
$1,000
$12,161
$5,000
$60,803
$10,000
$121,606
$100,000
$1,216,058
$1,000,000
$12,160,584
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1999
Between 1935 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 2356.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 531.3%, against 1116.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.98%
$1,216
Medical care
5.13%
$2,457
Food
4.12%
$1,323
Transportation
3.69%
$1,017
Apparel
2.92%
$631
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 1999
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 1935–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$1,216
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $230 by
1965, on its way to $1,216 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,216; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 1999: $100 is worth $1,216 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1999/