$100 in 1937 is worth $1,029 in 1994,
because prices increased 929.2% over that period, an average of
4.17% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,029
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
929.2%
Average inflation rate
4.17% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,029
Price difference ($100 base)
$929
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1937 → 1994
$1,029
$100 in 1994 → 1937
$9.72
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1994
Between 1937 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 929.2%, which works out to an average of
4.17% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1994: the 1937 dollar
lost 90.3% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 1994 at the same ratio, 10.29: $1,000 becomes
$10,292, and $10,000 becomes $102,917.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1994
$1.00
$10.29
$5.00
$51.46
$10.00
$103
$20.00
$206
$50.00
$515
$100
$1,029
$500
$5,146
$1,000
$10,292
$5,000
$51,458
$10,000
$102,917
$100,000
$1,029,167
$1,000,000
$10,291,667
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1994
Between 1937 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 1948.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 506.4%, against 929.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.17%
$1,029
Medical care
5.44%
$2,049
Food
4.30%
$1,102
Transportation
3.98%
$926
Apparel
3.21%
$606
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 1994
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 1937–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$1,029
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $219 by
1965, on its way to $1,029 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,029; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1994: $100 is worth $1,029 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1994/