$100 in 1937 is worth $102 in 1941,
because prices increased 2.1% over that period, an average of
0.52% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$102
in 1941
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2.1%
Average inflation rate
0.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$102
Price difference ($100 base)
$2.08
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1941
14.7
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
$100 in 1937 → 1941
$102
$100 in 1941 → 1937
$97.96
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1941
Between 1937 and 1941, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 14.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2.1%, which works out to an average of
0.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.98 buys in 1941: the 1937 dollar
lost 2.0% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% in 1937, the fastest pace since before the
Depression and the fourth straight year of gains, leaving prices 10.8% above
their 1933 trough though still 15.8% below the
1929 peak. The recovery did not last the year. The National
Bureau of Economic Research dates a new business cycle peak to that May, the
start of what became known as the Recession of 1937-38. Policy tightened on
two fronts at once: the Federal Reserve had doubled bank reserve
requirements over the preceding year to head off inflation it worried was
building, and the federal government pulled back its own spending even as
new Social Security payroll taxes began draining money from paychecks
months before the first benefit checks went out. Together they choked off a
recovery that had not yet reached its pre-Depression footing. Not every
milestone that year was economic. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic
on May 27 after four years of construction, at the time the longest
suspension bridge span in the world, a rare bright spot in a year that would
end with the economy sliding backward again. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
Every 1937 amount converts to 1941 at the same ratio, 1.02: $1,000 becomes
$1,021, and $10,000 becomes $10,208.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1941
$1.00
$1.02
$5.00
$5.10
$10.00
$10.21
$20.00
$20.42
$50.00
$51.04
$100
$102
$500
$510
$1,000
$1,021
$5,000
$5,104
$10,000
$10,208
$100,000
$102,083
$1,000,000
$1,020,833
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1941
Between 1937 and 1941, apparel rose the most, up 3.6%, while food rose the least, up 0.0%, against 2.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1941, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.52%
$102
Apparel
0.90%
$104
Transportation
0.34%
$101
Medical care
0.24%
$101
Food
0.00%
$100
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1937: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1937 to 1941
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.00% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1937–1941 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1937, at end
1937–1940
-0.93%
-2.8%
$97.22
1940–1941
5.00%
5.0%
$102
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $96.53 by
1939, on its way to $102 in 1941; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.0% in 1941, and prices fell 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1941, prices rose 5.0% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $102; the year's average CPI of 14.7 is the level
behind every 1941 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.0% in 1941, up sharply from just 0.7% in
1940 and the fastest annual increase since 1920, as
rearmament and Lend-Lease production pushed demand well ahead of peacetime
supply even before the United States formally joined the war. Congress had
already tilted the country away from neutrality that March, passing the
Lend-Lease Act to arm Britain, and later the Soviet Union and other Allies,
without requiring immediate payment. That April, the government created the
Office of Price Administration to hold down the cost of civilian goods, the
start of a price-control system that would keep official inflation numbers
well below what wartime demand alone would have produced over the next four
years. Then, on December 7, Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor,
destroying much of the Pacific Fleet and killing more than 2,400 Americans.
Congress declared war on Japan the next day and on Germany and Italy three
days later, ending years of debate over whether the United States should
stay out of the conflict spreading across Europe and Asia. Consumer prices,
already up 48.5% from their 1913 level, would climb far
faster over the next two years as the economy converted fully to war
production. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1941: $100 is worth $102 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1941/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1941. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1941/