$100 in 1936 is worth $355 in 1974,
because prices increased 254.7% over that period, an average of
3.39% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$355
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
254.7%
Average inflation rate
3.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$355
Price difference ($100 base)
$255
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1936 → 1974
$355
$100 in 1974 → 1936
$28.19
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1974
Between 1936 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 254.7%, which works out to an average of
3.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1974: the 1936 dollar
lost 71.8% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 1974 at the same ratio, 3.55: $1,000 becomes
$3,547, and $10,000 becomes $35,468.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1974
$1.00
$3.55
$5.00
$17.73
$10.00
$35.47
$20.00
$70.94
$50.00
$177
$100
$355
$500
$1,773
$1,000
$3,547
$5,000
$17,734
$10,000
$35,468
$100,000
$354,676
$1,000,000
$3,546,763
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1974
Between 1936 and 1974, food rose the most, up 337.3%, while transportation rose the least, up 220.3%, against 254.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.39%
$355
Food
3.96%
$437
Medical care
3.82%
$416
Apparel
3.20%
$330
Transportation
3.11%
$320
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 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1974 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$279
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$355
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $194 by
1954, on its way to $355 in 1974; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $355; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1974: $100 is worth $355 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1974/