$100 in 1937 is worth $395 in 1976,
because prices increased 295.1% over that period, an average of
3.59% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$395
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
295.1%
Average inflation rate
3.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$395
Price difference ($100 base)
$295
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1937 → 1976
$395
$100 in 1976 → 1937
$25.31
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1976
Between 1937 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 295.1%, which works out to an average of
3.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.25 buys in 1976: the 1937 dollar
lost 74.7% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1976 at the same ratio, 3.95: $1,000 becomes
$3,951, and $10,000 becomes $39,514.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1976
$1.00
$3.95
$5.00
$19.76
$10.00
$39.51
$20.00
$79.03
$50.00
$198
$100
$395
$500
$1,976
$1,000
$3,951
$5,000
$19,757
$10,000
$39,514
$100,000
$395,139
$1,000,000
$3,951,389
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1976
Between 1937 and 1976, medical care rose the most, up 404.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 241.8%, against 295.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.59%
$395
Medical care
4.24%
$505
Food
4.05%
$470
Transportation
3.48%
$380
Apparel
3.20%
$342
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1937–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$395
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $195 by
1957, on its way to $395 in 1976; 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: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $395; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1976: $100 is worth $395 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1976/