$100 in 1936 is worth $980 in 1991,
because prices increased 879.9% over that period, an average of
4.24% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$980
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
879.9%
Average inflation rate
4.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$980
Price difference ($100 base)
$880
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1936 → 1991
$980
$100 in 1991 → 1936
$10.21
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1991
Between 1936 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 879.9%, which works out to an average of
4.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1991: the 1936 dollar
lost 89.8% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 1991 at the same ratio, 9.80: $1,000 becomes
$9,799, and $10,000 becomes $97,986.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1991
$1.00
$9.80
$5.00
$48.99
$10.00
$97.99
$20.00
$196
$50.00
$490
$100
$980
$500
$4,899
$1,000
$9,799
$5,000
$48,993
$10,000
$97,986
$100,000
$979,856
$1,000,000
$9,798,561
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1991
Between 1936 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 1635.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 512.9%, against 879.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.24%
$980
Medical care
5.33%
$1,735
Food
4.42%
$1,082
Transportation
4.00%
$866
Apparel
3.35%
$613
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 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$940
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$980
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $223 by
1964, on its way to $980 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $980; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1991: $100 is worth $980 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1991/