$100 in 1937 is worth $167 in 1950,
because prices increased 67.4% over that period, an average of
4.04% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$167
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
67.4%
Average inflation rate
4.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$167
Price difference ($100 base)
$67.36
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1937 → 1950
$167
$100 in 1950 → 1937
$59.75
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1950
Between 1937 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 67.4%, which works out to an average of
4.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.60 buys in 1950: the 1937 dollar
lost 40.2% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 1950 at the same ratio, 1.67: $1,000 becomes
$1,674, and $10,000 becomes $16,736.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.67
$5.00
$8.37
$10.00
$16.74
$20.00
$33.47
$50.00
$83.68
$100
$167
$500
$837
$1,000
$1,674
$5,000
$8,368
$10,000
$16,736
$100,000
$167,361
$1,000,000
$1,673,611
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1950
Between 1937 and 1950, food rose the most, up 93.9%, while medical care rose the least, up 46.6%, against 67.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.04%
$167
Food
5.23%
$194
Apparel
4.77%
$183
Transportation
3.51%
$157
Medical care
2.99%
$147
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 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1937–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1937, at end
1937–1940
-0.93%
-2.8%
$97.22
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$167
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $120 by
1943, on its way to $167 in 1950; 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.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $167; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1950: $100 is worth $167 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1950/