$100 in 1935 is worth $1,313 in 2002,
because prices increased 1213.1% over that period, an average of
3.92% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,313
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1213.1%
Average inflation rate
3.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,313
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,213
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1935 → 2002
$1,313
$100 in 2002 → 1935
$7.62
What happened to prices between 1935 and 2002
Between 1935 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1213.1%, which works out to an average of
3.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2002: the 1935 dollar
lost 92.4% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 2002 at the same ratio, 13.13: $1,000 becomes
$13,131, and $10,000 becomes $131,314.
Amount in 1935
Value in 2002
$1.00
$13.13
$5.00
$65.66
$10.00
$131
$20.00
$263
$50.00
$657
$100
$1,313
$500
$6,566
$1,000
$13,131
$5,000
$65,657
$10,000
$131,314
$100,000
$1,313,139
$1,000,000
$13,131,387
Inflation by spending category, 1935–2002
Between 1935 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 2700.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 496.2%, against 1213.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.92%
$1,313
Medical care
5.10%
$2,800
Food
4.04%
$1,421
Transportation
3.61%
$1,077
Apparel
2.70%
$596
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 2002
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 1935–2002 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,257
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$1,313
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $283 by
1970, on its way to $1,313 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,313; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 2002: $100 is worth $1,313 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2002/