$100 in 1935 is worth $1,592 in 2010,
because prices increased 1491.6% over that period, an average of
3.76% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,592
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1491.6%
Average inflation rate
3.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,592
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,492
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1935 → 2010
$1,592
$100 in 2010 → 1935
$6.28
What happened to prices between 1935 and 2010
Between 1935 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1491.6%, which works out to an average of
3.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2010: the 1935 dollar
lost 93.7% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 2010 at the same ratio, 15.92: $1,000 becomes
$15,916, and $10,000 becomes $159,165.
Amount in 1935
Value in 2010
$1.00
$15.92
$5.00
$79.58
$10.00
$159
$20.00
$318
$50.00
$796
$100
$1,592
$500
$7,958
$1,000
$15,916
$5,000
$79,582
$10,000
$159,165
$100,000
$1,591,650
$1,000,000
$15,916,496
Inflation by spending category, 1935–2010
Between 1935 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 3708.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 474.5%, against 1491.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.76%
$1,592
Medical care
4.97%
$3,808
Food
3.91%
$1,771
Transportation
3.54%
$1,362
Apparel
2.36%
$575
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 2010
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 1935–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,592
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $283 by
1970, on its way to $1,592 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,592; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,592 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2010/