$100 in 1936 is worth $436 in 1977,
because prices increased 336.0% over that period, an average of
3.66% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$436
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
336.0%
Average inflation rate
3.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$436
Price difference ($100 base)
$336
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1936 → 1977
$436
$100 in 1977 → 1936
$22.94
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1977
Between 1936 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 336.0%, which works out to an average of
3.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.23 buys in 1977: the 1936 dollar
lost 77.1% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1977 at the same ratio, 4.36: $1,000 becomes
$4,360, and $10,000 becomes $43,597.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1977
$1.00
$4.36
$5.00
$21.80
$10.00
$43.60
$20.00
$87.19
$50.00
$218
$100
$436
$500
$2,180
$1,000
$4,360
$5,000
$21,799
$10,000
$43,597
$100,000
$435,971
$1,000,000
$4,359,712
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1977
Between 1936 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 458.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 274.3%, against 336.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.66%
$436
Medical care
4.29%
$559
Food
4.10%
$520
Transportation
3.52%
$413
Apparel
3.27%
$374
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 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1977 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
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$436
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $196 by
1956, on its way to $436 in 1977; 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: 1977
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $436; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1977: $100 is worth $436 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1977/