$100 in 1935 is worth $1,789 in 2017,
because prices increased 1689.2% over that period, an average of
3.58% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$1,789
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1689.2%
Average inflation rate
3.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,789
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,689
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1935 → 2017
$1,789
$100 in 2017 → 1935
$5.59
What happened to prices between 1935 and 2017
Between 1935 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1689.2%, which works out to an average of
3.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2017: the 1935 dollar
lost 94.4% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2017 at the same ratio, 17.89: $1,000 becomes
$17,892, and $10,000 becomes $178,920.
Amount in 1935
Value in 2017
$1.00
$17.89
$5.00
$89.46
$10.00
$179
$20.00
$358
$50.00
$895
$100
$1,789
$500
$8,946
$1,000
$17,892
$5,000
$89,460
$10,000
$178,920
$100,000
$1,789,197
$1,000,000
$17,891,971
Inflation by spending category, 1935–2017
Between 1935 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 4560.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 503.9%, against 1689.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.58%
$1,789
Medical care
4.80%
$4,660
Food
3.73%
$2,017
Transportation
3.29%
$1,419
Apparel
2.22%
$604
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 2017
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 1935–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$1,789
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $393 by
1975, on its way to $1,789 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $1,789; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 2017: $100 is worth $1,789 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2017/