$100 in 1936 is worth $1,009 in 1992,
because prices increased 909.4% over that period, an average of
4.21% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$1,009
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
909.4%
Average inflation rate
4.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,009
Price difference ($100 base)
$909
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1936 → 1992
$1,009
$100 in 1992 → 1936
$9.91
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1992
Between 1936 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 909.4%, which works out to an average of
4.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1992: the 1936 dollar
lost 90.1% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 1992 at the same ratio, 10.09: $1,000 becomes
$10,094, and $10,000 becomes $100,935.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1992
$1.00
$10.09
$5.00
$50.47
$10.00
$101
$20.00
$202
$50.00
$505
$100
$1,009
$500
$5,047
$1,000
$10,094
$5,000
$50,468
$10,000
$100,935
$100,000
$1,009,353
$1,000,000
$10,093,525
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1992
Between 1936 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 1763.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 528.1%, against 909.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.21%
$1,009
Medical care
5.36%
$1,864
Food
4.37%
$1,094
Transportation
3.97%
$885
Apparel
3.34%
$628
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 1992
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 1936–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$1,009
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $223 by
1964, on its way to $1,009 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $1,009; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 1992: $100 is worth $1,009 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1992/