$100 in 1936 is worth $173 in 1950,
because prices increased 73.4% over that period, an average of
4.01% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$173
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
73.4%
Average inflation rate
4.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$173
Price difference ($100 base)
$73.38
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1936 → 1950
$173
$100 in 1950 → 1936
$57.68
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1950
Between 1936 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 73.4%, which works out to an average of
4.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.58 buys in 1950: the 1936 dollar
lost 42.3% of its purchasing power over
these 14 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1936, a third straight annual increase and part
of a slow, steady climb back from the 1933 trough, though
prices and the broader economy still had not fully recovered to their
pre-Depression levels. Voters delivered their verdict on that recovery in
November, reelecting Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican Alf Landon in one
of the most lopsided elections in U.S. history: Roosevelt carried 46 of 48
states and won the Electoral College 523 to 8, a broad public endorsement of
the New Deal. Public works kept advancing that year, too. Hoover Dam, one of
the era’s signature projects, had been dedicated in September 1935, but its
first generators did not begin sending electricity over transmission lines
to Los Angeles until October 1936, a milestone that showed how long even a
celebrated project took to reach full operation. Consumer prices ended the
year 40.4% above their 1913 level, still 18.7% below the
1929 peak, a gap that would keep narrowing until a sharp new recession
interrupted the recovery the following year. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
Every 1936 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.73: $1,000 becomes
$1,734, and $10,000 becomes $17,338.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.73
$5.00
$8.67
$10.00
$17.34
$20.00
$34.68
$50.00
$86.69
$100
$173
$500
$867
$1,000
$1,734
$5,000
$8,669
$10,000
$17,338
$100,000
$173,381
$1,000,000
$1,733,813
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1950
Between 1936 and 1950, food rose the most, up 101.6%, while medical care rose the least, up 48.0%, against 73.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.01%
$173
Food
5.14%
$202
Apparel
4.77%
$192
Transportation
3.36%
$159
Medical care
2.84%
$148
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1936: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1936 to 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1936, at end
1936–1940
0.18%
0.7%
$101
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$173
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $124 by
1943, on its way to $173 in 1950; 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.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $173; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1950: $100 is worth $173 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1950/