$100 in 1935 is worth $1,752 in 2016,
because prices increased 1651.9% over that period, an average of
3.60% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,752
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1651.9%
Average inflation rate
3.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,752
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,652
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1935 → 2016
$1,752
$100 in 2016 → 1935
$5.71
What happened to prices between 1935 and 2016
Between 1935 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1651.9%, which works out to an average of
3.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2016: the 1935 dollar
lost 94.3% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 2016 at the same ratio, 17.52: $1,000 becomes
$17,519, and $10,000 becomes $175,188.
Amount in 1935
Value in 2016
$1.00
$17.52
$5.00
$87.59
$10.00
$175
$20.00
$350
$50.00
$876
$100
$1,752
$500
$8,759
$1,000
$17,519
$5,000
$87,594
$10,000
$175,188
$100,000
$1,751,876
$1,000,000
$17,518,759
Inflation by spending category, 1935–2016
Between 1935 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 4445.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 506.0%, against 1651.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.60%
$1,752
Medical care
4.82%
$4,546
Food
3.77%
$1,999
Transportation
3.29%
$1,372
Apparel
2.25%
$606
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 2016
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 1935–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,752
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $393 by
1975, on its way to $1,752 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,752; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,752 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2016/