$100 in 1937 is worth $946 in 1991,
because prices increased 845.8% over that period, an average of
4.25% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$946
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
845.8%
Average inflation rate
4.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$946
Price difference ($100 base)
$846
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1937 → 1991
$946
$100 in 1991 → 1937
$10.57
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1991
Between 1937 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 845.8%, which works out to an average of
4.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1991: the 1937 dollar
lost 89.4% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 1991 at the same ratio, 9.46: $1,000 becomes
$9,458, and $10,000 becomes $94,583.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1991
$1.00
$9.46
$5.00
$47.29
$10.00
$94.58
$20.00
$189
$50.00
$473
$100
$946
$500
$4,729
$1,000
$9,458
$5,000
$47,292
$10,000
$94,583
$100,000
$945,833
$1,000,000
$9,458,333
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1991
Between 1937 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 1618.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 485.0%, against 845.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.25%
$946
Medical care
5.41%
$1,718
Food
4.43%
$1,040
Transportation
4.05%
$854
Apparel
3.33%
$585
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 1991
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 1937–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$908
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$946
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $213 by
1963, on its way to $946 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $946; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1991: $100 is worth $946 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1991/