$100 in 1937 is worth $747 in 1985,
because prices increased 647.2% over that period, an average of
4.28% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$747
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
647.2%
Average inflation rate
4.28% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$747
Price difference ($100 base)
$647
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1937 → 1985
$747
$100 in 1985 → 1937
$13.38
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1985
Between 1937 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 647.2%, which works out to an average of
4.28% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1985: the 1937 dollar
lost 86.6% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 1985 at the same ratio, 7.47: $1,000 becomes
$7,472, and $10,000 becomes $74,722.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1985
$1.00
$7.47
$5.00
$37.36
$10.00
$74.72
$20.00
$149
$50.00
$374
$100
$747
$500
$3,736
$1,000
$7,472
$5,000
$37,361
$10,000
$74,722
$100,000
$747,222
$1,000,000
$7,472,222
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1985
Between 1937 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 1001.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 377.3%, against 647.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.28%
$747
Medical care
5.13%
$1,102
Food
4.44%
$806
Transportation
4.24%
$734
Apparel
3.31%
$477
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 1985
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 1937–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$747
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $208 by
1961, on its way to $747 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $747; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1985: $100 is worth $747 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1985/