$100 in 1937 is worth $187 in 1954,
because prices increased 86.8% over that period, an average of
3.74% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$187
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
86.8%
Average inflation rate
3.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$187
Price difference ($100 base)
$86.81
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1937 → 1954
$187
$100 in 1954 → 1937
$53.53
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1954
Between 1937 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 86.8%, which works out to an average of
3.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1954: the 1937 dollar
lost 46.5% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 1954 at the same ratio, 1.87: $1,000 becomes
$1,868, and $10,000 becomes $18,681.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1954
$1.00
$1.87
$5.00
$9.34
$10.00
$18.68
$20.00
$37.36
$50.00
$93.40
$100
$187
$500
$934
$1,000
$1,868
$5,000
$9,340
$10,000
$18,681
$100,000
$186,806
$1,000,000
$1,868,056
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1954
Between 1937 and 1954, food rose the most, up 115.3%, while medical care rose the least, up 72.8%, against 86.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.74%
$187
Food
4.61%
$215
Apparel
4.04%
$196
Transportation
3.52%
$180
Medical care
3.27%
$173
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 1954
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 1937–1954 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
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$187
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $125 by
1945, on its way to $187 in 1954; 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 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $187; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1954: $100 is worth $187 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1954/