$100 in 1937 is worth $822 in 1988,
because prices increased 721.5% over that period, an average of
4.22% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$822
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
721.5%
Average inflation rate
4.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$822
Price difference ($100 base)
$722
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1937 → 1988
$822
$100 in 1988 → 1937
$12.17
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1988
Between 1937 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 721.5%, which works out to an average of
4.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1988: the 1937 dollar
lost 87.8% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1988 at the same ratio, 8.22: $1,000 becomes
$8,215, and $10,000 becomes $82,153.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1988
$1.00
$8.22
$5.00
$41.08
$10.00
$82.15
$20.00
$164
$50.00
$411
$100
$822
$500
$4,108
$1,000
$8,215
$5,000
$41,076
$10,000
$82,153
$100,000
$821,528
$1,000,000
$8,215,278
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1988
Between 1937 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 1245.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 424.5%, against 721.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.22%
$822
Medical care
5.23%
$1,346
Food
4.41%
$902
Transportation
4.03%
$750
Apparel
3.30%
$525
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 1988
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 1937–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$822
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $213 by
1963, on its way to $822 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $822; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1988: $100 is worth $822 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1988/