$100 in 1937 is worth $761 in 1986,
because prices increased 661.1% over that period, an average of
4.23% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$761
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
661.1%
Average inflation rate
4.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$761
Price difference ($100 base)
$661
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1937 → 1986
$761
$100 in 1986 → 1937
$13.14
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1986
Between 1937 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 661.1%, which works out to an average of
4.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1986: the 1937 dollar
lost 86.9% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1986 at the same ratio, 7.61: $1,000 becomes
$7,611, and $10,000 becomes $76,111.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1986
$1.00
$7.61
$5.00
$38.06
$10.00
$76.11
$20.00
$152
$50.00
$381
$100
$761
$500
$3,806
$1,000
$7,611
$5,000
$38,056
$10,000
$76,111
$100,000
$761,111
$1,000,000
$7,611,111
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1986
Between 1937 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 1084.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 381.4%, against 661.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.23%
$761
Medical care
5.17%
$1,184
Food
4.42%
$832
Transportation
4.07%
$706
Apparel
3.26%
$481
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 1986
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 1937–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$761
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $208 by
1961, on its way to $761 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $761; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1986: $100 is worth $761 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1986/