$100 in 1937 is worth $281 in 1971,
because prices increased 181.3% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$281
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
181.3%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$281
Price difference ($100 base)
$181
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1937 → 1971
$281
$100 in 1971 → 1937
$35.56
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1971
Between 1937 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 181.3%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.36 buys in 1971: the 1937 dollar
lost 64.4% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 1971 at the same ratio, 2.81: $1,000 becomes
$2,813, and $10,000 becomes $28,125.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1971
$1.00
$2.81
$5.00
$14.06
$10.00
$28.13
$20.00
$56.25
$50.00
$141
$100
$281
$500
$1,406
$1,000
$2,813
$5,000
$14,063
$10,000
$28,125
$100,000
$281,250
$1,000,000
$2,812,500
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1971
Between 1937 and 1971, medical care rose the most, up 250.5%, while transportation rose the least, up 172.4%, against 181.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$281
Medical care
3.76%
$350
Food
3.37%
$308
Apparel
3.05%
$278
Transportation
2.99%
$272
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 1971
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 1937–1971 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$269
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$281
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $185 by
1953, on its way to $281 in 1971; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $281; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1971: $100 is worth $281 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1971/