$100 in 1937 is worth $219 in 1965,
because prices increased 118.8% over that period, an average of
2.84% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$219
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
118.8%
Average inflation rate
2.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$219
Price difference ($100 base)
$119
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1937 → 1965
$219
$100 in 1965 → 1937
$45.71
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1965
Between 1937 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 118.8%, which works out to an average of
2.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1965: the 1937 dollar
lost 54.3% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 1965 at the same ratio, 2.19: $1,000 becomes
$2,188, and $10,000 becomes $21,875.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1965
$1.00
$2.19
$5.00
$10.94
$10.00
$21.88
$20.00
$43.75
$50.00
$109
$100
$219
$500
$1,094
$1,000
$2,188
$5,000
$10,938
$10,000
$21,875
$100,000
$218,750
$1,000,000
$2,187,500
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1965
Between 1937 and 1965, food rose the most, up 145.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 117.3%, against 118.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.84%
$219
Food
3.26%
$246
Medical care
3.25%
$245
Transportation
2.86%
$220
Apparel
2.81%
$217
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 1965
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 1937–1965 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
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$219
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $181 by
1951, on its way to $219 in 1965; 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 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $219; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% 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 1965: $100 is worth $219 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1965/