$100 in 1936 is worth $1,569 in 2010,
because prices increased 1468.7% over that period, an average of
3.79% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$1,569
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1468.7%
Average inflation rate
3.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,569
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,469
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1936 → 2010
$1,569
$100 in 2010 → 1936
$6.37
What happened to prices between 1936 and 2010
Between 1936 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1468.7%, which works out to an average of
3.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2010: the 1936 dollar
lost 93.6% of its purchasing power over
these 74 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 2010 at the same ratio, 15.69: $1,000 becomes
$15,687, and $10,000 becomes $156,875.
Amount in 1936
Value in 2010
$1.00
$15.69
$5.00
$78.44
$10.00
$157
$20.00
$314
$50.00
$784
$100
$1,569
$500
$7,844
$1,000
$15,687
$5,000
$78,437
$10,000
$156,875
$100,000
$1,568,748
$1,000,000
$15,687,482
Inflation by spending category, 1936–2010
Between 1936 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 3708.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 469.1%, against 1468.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.79%
$1,569
Medical care
5.04%
$3,808
Food
3.94%
$1,743
Transportation
3.58%
$1,352
Apparel
2.38%
$569
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 2010
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 1936–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,569
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $291 by
1971, on its way to $1,569 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $1,569; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,569 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2010/