$100 in 1937 is worth $974 in 1992,
because prices increased 874.3% over that period, an average of
4.23% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$974
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
874.3%
Average inflation rate
4.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$974
Price difference ($100 base)
$874
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1937 → 1992
$974
$100 in 1992 → 1937
$10.26
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1992
Between 1937 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 874.3%, which works out to an average of
4.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1992: the 1937 dollar
lost 89.7% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 1992 at the same ratio, 9.74: $1,000 becomes
$9,743, and $10,000 becomes $97,431.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1992
$1.00
$9.74
$5.00
$48.72
$10.00
$97.43
$20.00
$195
$50.00
$487
$100
$974
$500
$4,872
$1,000
$9,743
$5,000
$48,715
$10,000
$97,431
$100,000
$974,306
$1,000,000
$9,743,056
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1992
Between 1937 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 1745.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 499.5%, against 874.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.23%
$974
Medical care
5.44%
$1,846
Food
4.37%
$1,053
Transportation
4.02%
$872
Apparel
3.31%
$600
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 1992
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 1937–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$974
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $219 by
1965, on its way to $974 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $974; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1992: $100 is worth $974 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1992/