$100 in 1937 is worth $208 in 1961,
because prices increased 107.6% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$208
in 1961
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
107.6%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$208
Price difference ($100 base)
$108
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1961
29.9
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
$100 in 1937 → 1961
$208
$100 in 1961 → 1937
$48.16
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1961
Between 1937 and 1961, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 29.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 107.6%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1961: the 1937 dollar
lost 51.8% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 1961 at the same ratio, 2.08: $1,000 becomes
$2,076, and $10,000 becomes $20,764.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1961
$1.00
$2.08
$5.00
$10.38
$10.00
$20.76
$20.00
$41.53
$50.00
$104
$100
$208
$500
$1,038
$1,000
$2,076
$5,000
$10,382
$10,000
$20,764
$100,000
$207,639
$1,000,000
$2,076,389
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1961
Between 1937 and 1961, food rose the most, up 132.1%, while transportation rose the least, up 107.6%, against 107.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1961, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$208
Food
3.57%
$232
Medical care
3.39%
$222
Apparel
3.13%
$210
Transportation
3.09%
$208
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 1961
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 1937–1961 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$206
1960–1961
1.01%
1.0%
$208
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $165 by
1949, on its way to $208 in 1961; 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 1961, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $208; the year's average CPI of 29.9 is the level
behind every 1961 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1961: $100 is worth $208 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1961/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1961. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1961/