$100 in 1935 is worth $2,136 in 2022,
because prices increased 2036.2% over that period, an average of
3.58% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$2,136
in 2022
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2036.2%
Average inflation rate
3.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,136
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,036
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 2022
292.655
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 2022
8.00%
$100 in 1935 → 2022
$2,136
$100 in 2022 → 1935
$4.68
What happened to prices between 1935 and 2022
Between 1935 and 2022, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 292.655.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2036.2%, which works out to an average of
3.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2022: the 1935 dollar
lost 95.3% of its purchasing power over
these 87 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 2022 at the same ratio, 21.36: $1,000 becomes
$21,362, and $10,000 becomes $213,617.
Amount in 1935
Value in 2022
$1.00
$21.36
$5.00
$107
$10.00
$214
$20.00
$427
$50.00
$1,068
$100
$2,136
$500
$10,681
$1,000
$21,362
$5,000
$106,808
$10,000
$213,617
$100,000
$2,136,168
$1,000,000
$21,361,679
Inflation by spending category, 1935–2022
Between 1935 and 2022, medical care rose the most, up 5258.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 511.0%, against 2036.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 2022, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.58%
$2,136
Medical care
4.68%
$5,358
Food
3.75%
$2,463
Transportation
3.43%
$1,876
Apparel
2.10%
$611
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 2022
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 1935–2022 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,889
2020–2022
6.34%
13.1%
$2,136
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $601 by
1980, on its way to $2,136 in 2022; 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: 2022
In 2022, prices rose 8.0% and $100 from 1935 had the buying
power of $2,136; the year's average CPI of 292.655 is the level
behind every 2022 figure on this page.
2022 was the year inflation returned. Consumer prices rose 8.0% on average,
the worst since 1981, driven by pandemic-era supply chains, stimulus-fueled
demand, and an energy shock from the war in Ukraine. Gas briefly topped $5 a
gallon nationally for the first time ever, and “inflation” became the
top-ranked economic concern in nearly every poll of American households.
MLA: “Inflation from 1935 to 2022: $100 is worth $2,136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2022/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 2022. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-2022/