$100 in 1937 is worth $210 in 1962,
because prices increased 109.7% over that period, an average of
3.01% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$210
in 1962
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
109.7%
Average inflation rate
3.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$210
Price difference ($100 base)
$110
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1962
30.2
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
$100 in 1937 → 1962
$210
$100 in 1962 → 1937
$47.68
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1962
Between 1937 and 1962, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 30.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 109.7%, which works out to an average of
3.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1962: the 1937 dollar
lost 52.3% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1962 at the same ratio, 2.10: $1,000 becomes
$2,097, and $10,000 becomes $20,972.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1962
$1.00
$2.10
$5.00
$10.49
$10.00
$20.97
$20.00
$41.94
$50.00
$105
$100
$210
$500
$1,049
$1,000
$2,097
$5,000
$10,486
$10,000
$20,972
$100,000
$209,722
$1,000,000
$2,097,222
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1962
Between 1937 and 1962, food rose the most, up 133.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 110.5%, against 109.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1962, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.01%
$210
Food
3.45%
$234
Medical care
3.35%
$228
Transportation
3.06%
$212
Apparel
3.02%
$210
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 1962
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 1937–1962 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
1960–1962
1.01%
2.0%
$210
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $165 by
1949, on its way to $210 in 1962; 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 1962, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $210; the year's average CPI of 30.2 is the level
behind every 1962 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1962, matching 1961’s pace as
inflation stayed remarkably low and unemployment slowly declined from its
recession-era highs. That January, Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers
introduced “wage-price guideposts,” non-binding targets meant to keep pay
and price increases in line with productivity growth without formal
controls. The space race delivered a milestone that February, when John
Glenn’s Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times, making him the
first American to orbit the planet. Markets got a scare that spring: a
dispute over U.S. Steel’s April price increase, which Kennedy publicly
pressured the company into rolling back, rattled investors, and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average fell about 5.7% on May 28, its steepest one-day
drop since the 1929 crash. The year’s gravest moment came that October,
when American reconnaissance photographed Soviet nuclear missiles in
Cuba, setting off a 13-day standoff that brought the two superpowers
closer to nuclear war than at any other point in the Cold War before the
Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge
not to invade the island. Consumer prices finished 1962 205.1% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.15 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1962: $100 is worth $210 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1962/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1962. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1962/