$100 in 1937 is worth $308 in 1973,
because prices increased 208.3% over that period, an average of
3.18% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$308
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
208.3%
Average inflation rate
3.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$308
Price difference ($100 base)
$208
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1937 → 1973
$308
$100 in 1973 → 1937
$32.43
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1973
Between 1937 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 208.3%, which works out to an average of
3.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1973: the 1937 dollar
lost 67.6% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 1973 at the same ratio, 3.08: $1,000 becomes
$3,083, and $10,000 becomes $30,833.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1973
$1.00
$3.08
$5.00
$15.42
$10.00
$30.83
$20.00
$61.67
$50.00
$154
$100
$308
$500
$1,542
$1,000
$3,083
$5,000
$15,417
$10,000
$30,833
$100,000
$308,333
$1,000,000
$3,083,333
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1973
Between 1937 and 1973, medical care rose the most, up 276.7%, while transportation rose the least, up 184.1%, against 208.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.18%
$308
Medical care
3.75%
$377
Food
3.69%
$368
Apparel
3.04%
$294
Transportation
2.94%
$284
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 1973
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 1937–1973 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
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$308
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $186 by
1955, on its way to $308 in 1973; 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: 1973
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $308; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1973: $100 is worth $308 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1973/