$100 in 1936 is worth $1,239 in 2000,
because prices increased 1138.8% over that period, an average of
4.01% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$1,239
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1138.8%
Average inflation rate
4.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,239
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,139
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1936 → 2000
$1,239
$100 in 2000 → 1936
$8.07
What happened to prices between 1936 and 2000
Between 1936 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1138.8%, which works out to an average of
4.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2000: the 1936 dollar
lost 91.9% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 2000 at the same ratio, 12.39: $1,000 becomes
$12,388, and $10,000 becomes $123,885.
Amount in 1936
Value in 2000
$1.00
$12.39
$5.00
$61.94
$10.00
$124
$20.00
$248
$50.00
$619
$100
$1,239
$500
$6,194
$1,000
$12,388
$5,000
$61,942
$10,000
$123,885
$100,000
$1,238,849
$1,000,000
$12,388,489
Inflation by spending category, 1936–2000
Between 1936 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 2456.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 517.1%, against 1138.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.01%
$1,239
Medical care
5.20%
$2,557
Food
4.13%
$1,332
Transportation
3.78%
$1,072
Apparel
2.88%
$617
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 2000
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 1936–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,239
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $233 by
1966, on its way to $1,239 in 2000; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $1,239; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 2000: $100 is worth $1,239 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2000/