$100 in 1937 is worth $225 in 1966,
because prices increased 125.0% over that period, an average of
2.84% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$225
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
125.0%
Average inflation rate
2.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$225
Price difference ($100 base)
$125
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1937 → 1966
$225
$100 in 1966 → 1937
$44.44
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1966
Between 1937 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 125.0%, which works out to an average of
2.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1966: the 1937 dollar
lost 55.6% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1966 at the same ratio, 2.25: $1,000 becomes
$2,250, and $10,000 becomes $22,500.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1966
$1.00
$2.25
$5.00
$11.25
$10.00
$22.50
$20.00
$45.00
$50.00
$113
$100
$225
$500
$1,125
$1,000
$2,250
$5,000
$11,250
$10,000
$22,500
$100,000
$225,000
$1,000,000
$2,250,000
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1966
Between 1937 and 1966, food rose the most, up 158.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 122.7%, against 125.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.84%
$225
Food
3.32%
$258
Medical care
3.29%
$255
Transportation
2.80%
$223
Apparel
2.80%
$223
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 1966
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 1937–1966 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
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$225
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $181 by
1951, on its way to $225 in 1966; 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 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $225; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1966: $100 is worth $225 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1966/