$100 in 1937 is worth $1,115 in 1997,
because prices increased 1014.6% over that period, an average of
4.10% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,115
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1014.6%
Average inflation rate
4.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,115
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,015
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1937 → 1997
$1,115
$100 in 1997 → 1937
$8.97
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1997
Between 1937 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1014.6%, which works out to an average of
4.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1997: the 1937 dollar
lost 91.0% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 1997 at the same ratio, 11.15: $1,000 becomes
$11,146, and $10,000 becomes $111,458.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1997
$1.00
$11.15
$5.00
$55.73
$10.00
$111
$20.00
$223
$50.00
$557
$100
$1,115
$500
$5,573
$1,000
$11,146
$5,000
$55,729
$10,000
$111,458
$100,000
$1,114,583
$1,000,000
$11,145,833
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1997
Between 1937 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 2177.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 504.1%, against 1014.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.10%
$1,115
Medical care
5.35%
$2,278
Food
4.23%
$1,201
Transportation
3.90%
$995
Apparel
3.04%
$604
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 1997
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 1937–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$1,115
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $232 by
1967, on its way to $1,115 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,115; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1997: $100 is worth $1,115 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1997/