$100 in 1935 is worth $1,728 in 2014,
because prices increased 1628.0% over that period, an average of
3.67% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,728
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1628.0%
Average inflation rate
3.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,728
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,628
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1935 → 2014
$1,728
$100 in 2014 → 1935
$5.79
What happened to prices between 1935 and 2014
Between 1935 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1628.0%, which works out to an average of
3.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2014: the 1935 dollar
lost 94.2% of its purchasing power over
these 79 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 2014 at the same ratio, 17.28: $1,000 becomes
$17,280, and $10,000 becomes $172,800.
Amount in 1935
Value in 2014
$1.00
$17.28
$5.00
$86.40
$10.00
$173
$20.00
$346
$50.00
$864
$100
$1,728
$500
$8,640
$1,000
$17,280
$5,000
$86,400
$10,000
$172,800
$100,000
$1,728,000
$1,000,000
$17,280,000
Inflation by spending category, 1935–2014
Between 1935 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 4167.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 513.0%, against 1628.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.67%
$1,728
Medical care
4.87%
$4,268
Food
3.84%
$1,957
Transportation
3.51%
$1,521
Apparel
2.32%
$613
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 2014
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 1935–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,728
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $393 by
1975, on its way to $1,728 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,728; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,728 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2014/