$100 in 1937 is worth $692 in 1983,
because prices increased 591.7% over that period, an average of
4.29% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$692
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
591.7%
Average inflation rate
4.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$692
Price difference ($100 base)
$592
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1937 → 1983
$692
$100 in 1983 → 1937
$14.46
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1983
Between 1937 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 591.7%, which works out to an average of
4.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1983: the 1937 dollar
lost 85.5% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 1983 at the same ratio, 6.92: $1,000 becomes
$6,917, and $10,000 becomes $69,167.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1983
$1.00
$6.92
$5.00
$34.58
$10.00
$69.17
$20.00
$138
$50.00
$346
$100
$692
$500
$3,458
$1,000
$6,917
$5,000
$34,583
$10,000
$69,167
$100,000
$691,667
$1,000,000
$6,916,667
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1983
Between 1937 and 1983, medical care rose the most, up 876.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 355.5%, against 591.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.29%
$692
Medical care
5.08%
$977
Food
4.50%
$759
Transportation
4.27%
$685
Apparel
3.35%
$455
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 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1937–1983 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$572
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$692
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $202 by
1959, on its way to $692 in 1983; 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: 1983
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $692; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1983: $100 is worth $692 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1983/