$100 in 1936 is worth $223 in 1964,
because prices increased 123.0% over that period, an average of
2.91% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$223
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
123.0%
Average inflation rate
2.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$223
Price difference ($100 base)
$123
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1936 → 1964
$223
$100 in 1964 → 1936
$44.84
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1964
Between 1936 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 123.0%, which works out to an average of
2.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.45 buys in 1964: the 1936 dollar
lost 55.2% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 1964 at the same ratio, 2.23: $1,000 becomes
$2,230, and $10,000 becomes $22,302.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1964
$1.00
$2.23
$5.00
$11.15
$10.00
$22.30
$20.00
$44.60
$50.00
$112
$100
$223
$500
$1,115
$1,000
$2,230
$5,000
$11,151
$10,000
$22,302
$100,000
$223,022
$1,000,000
$2,230,216
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1964
Between 1936 and 1964, food rose the most, up 150.0%, while transportation rose the least, up 119.6%, against 123.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.91%
$223
Food
3.33%
$250
Medical care
3.19%
$241
Apparel
2.94%
$225
Transportation
2.85%
$220
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 1964
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 1936–1964 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$213
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$223
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $173 by
1950, on its way to $223 in 1964; 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 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $223; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1964: $100 is worth $223 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1964/