$100 in 1936 is worth $1,676 in 2013,
because prices increased 1575.9% over that period, an average of
3.73% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$1,676
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1575.9%
Average inflation rate
3.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,676
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,576
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1936 → 2013
$1,676
$100 in 2013 → 1936
$5.97
What happened to prices between 1936 and 2013
Between 1936 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1575.9%, which works out to an average of
3.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2013: the 1936 dollar
lost 94.0% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 2013 at the same ratio, 16.76: $1,000 becomes
$16,759, and $10,000 becomes $167,595.
Amount in 1936
Value in 2013
$1.00
$16.76
$5.00
$83.80
$10.00
$168
$20.00
$335
$50.00
$838
$100
$1,676
$500
$8,380
$1,000
$16,759
$5,000
$83,797
$10,000
$167,595
$100,000
$1,675,950
$1,000,000
$16,759,496
Inflation by spending category, 1936–2013
Between 1936 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 4068.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 506.7%, against 1575.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.73%
$1,676
Medical care
4.96%
$4,168
Food
3.88%
$1,881
Transportation
3.60%
$1,520
Apparel
2.37%
$607
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 2013
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 1936–2013 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
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,676
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $409 by
1976, on its way to $1,676 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $1,676; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1936 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,676 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-2013/