$100 in 1936 is worth $1,274 in 2001,
because prices increased 1174.1% over that period, an average of
3.99% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$1,274
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1174.1%
Average inflation rate
3.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,274
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,174
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1936 → 2001
$1,274
$100 in 2001 → 1936
$7.85
What happened to prices between 1936 and 2001
Between 1936 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1174.1%, which works out to an average of
3.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2001: the 1936 dollar
lost 92.2% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 2001 at the same ratio, 12.74: $1,000 becomes
$12,741, and $10,000 becomes $127,410.
Amount in 1936
Value in 2001
$1.00
$12.74
$5.00
$63.71
$10.00
$127
$20.00
$255
$50.00
$637
$100
$1,274
$500
$6,371
$1,000
$12,741
$5,000
$63,705
$10,000
$127,410
$100,000
$1,274,101
$1,000,000
$12,741,007
Inflation by spending category, 1936–2001
Between 1936 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 2574.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 506.2%, against 1174.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.99%
$1,274
Medical care
5.19%
$2,675
Food
4.11%
$1,374
Transportation
3.73%
$1,079
Apparel
2.81%
$606
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 2001
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 1936–2001 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
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,274
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $233 by
1966, on its way to $1,274 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $1,274; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,274 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2001/