$100 in 1936 is worth $233 in 1966,
because prices increased 133.1% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$233
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
133.1%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$233
Price difference ($100 base)
$133
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1936 → 1966
$233
$100 in 1966 → 1936
$42.90
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1966
Between 1936 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 133.1%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1966: the 1936 dollar
lost 57.1% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1966 at the same ratio, 2.33: $1,000 becomes
$2,331, and $10,000 becomes $23,309.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1966
$1.00
$2.33
$5.00
$11.65
$10.00
$23.31
$20.00
$46.62
$50.00
$117
$100
$233
$500
$1,165
$1,000
$2,331
$5,000
$11,655
$10,000
$23,309
$100,000
$233,094
$1,000,000
$2,330,935
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1966
Between 1936 and 1966, food rose the most, up 168.3%, while transportation rose the least, up 125.9%, against 133.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$233
Food
3.34%
$268
Medical care
3.21%
$258
Apparel
2.86%
$233
Transportation
2.75%
$226
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 1966
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 1936–1966 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
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$233
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $187 by
1951, on its way to $233 in 1966; 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 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $233; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1966: $100 is worth $233 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1966/