$100 in 1936 is worth $1,549 in 2008,
because prices increased 1448.9% over that period, an average of
3.88% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$1,549
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1448.9%
Average inflation rate
3.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,549
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,449
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1936 → 2008
$1,549
$100 in 2008 → 1936
$6.46
What happened to prices between 1936 and 2008
Between 1936 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1448.9%, which works out to an average of
3.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2008: the 1936 dollar
lost 93.5% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 2008 at the same ratio, 15.49: $1,000 becomes
$15,489, and $10,000 becomes $154,894.
Amount in 1936
Value in 2008
$1.00
$15.49
$5.00
$77.45
$10.00
$155
$20.00
$310
$50.00
$774
$100
$1,549
$500
$7,745
$1,000
$15,489
$5,000
$77,447
$10,000
$154,894
$100,000
$1,548,942
$1,000,000
$15,489,424
Inflation by spending category, 1936–2008
Between 1936 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 3469.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 466.2%, against 1448.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.88%
$1,549
Medical care
5.09%
$3,569
Food
4.01%
$1,699
Transportation
3.70%
$1,367
Apparel
2.44%
$566
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 2008
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 1936–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,549
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $291 by
1971, on its way to $1,549 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $1,549; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,549 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2008/