$100 in 1936 is worth $654 in 1981,
because prices increased 554.0% over that period, an average of
4.26% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$654
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
554.0%
Average inflation rate
4.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$654
Price difference ($100 base)
$554
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1936 → 1981
$654
$100 in 1981 → 1936
$15.29
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1981
Between 1936 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 554.0%, which works out to an average of
4.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1981: the 1936 dollar
lost 84.7% of its purchasing power over
these 45 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 1981 at the same ratio, 6.54: $1,000 becomes
$6,540, and $10,000 becomes $65,396.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1981
$1.00
$6.54
$5.00
$32.70
$10.00
$65.40
$20.00
$131
$50.00
$327
$100
$654
$500
$3,270
$1,000
$6,540
$5,000
$32,698
$10,000
$65,396
$100,000
$653,957
$1,000,000
$6,539,568
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1981
Between 1936 and 1981, medical care rose the most, up 712.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 353.8%, against 554.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.26%
$654
Medical care
4.77%
$813
Food
4.56%
$743
Transportation
4.25%
$652
Apparel
3.42%
$454
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$593
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$654
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $208 by
1958, on its way to $654 in 1981; 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: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $654; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1981: $100 is worth $654 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1981/