$100 in 1937 is worth $215 in 1964,
because prices increased 115.3% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$215
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
115.3%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$215
Price difference ($100 base)
$115
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1937 → 1964
$215
$100 in 1964 → 1937
$46.45
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1964
Between 1937 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 115.3%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1964: the 1937 dollar
lost 53.5% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1964 at the same ratio, 2.15: $1,000 becomes
$2,153, and $10,000 becomes $21,528.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1964
$1.00
$2.15
$5.00
$10.76
$10.00
$21.53
$20.00
$43.06
$50.00
$108
$100
$215
$500
$1,076
$1,000
$2,153
$5,000
$10,764
$10,000
$21,528
$100,000
$215,278
$1,000,000
$2,152,778
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1964
Between 1937 and 1964, food rose the most, up 140.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 115.0%, against 115.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$215
Food
3.30%
$240
Medical care
3.28%
$239
Transportation
2.90%
$217
Apparel
2.88%
$215
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 1964
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 1937–1964 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
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$215
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $167 by
1950, on its way to $215 in 1964; 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 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $215; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1964: $100 is worth $215 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1964/