$100 in 1937 is worth $1,132 in 1998,
because prices increased 1031.9% over that period, an average of
4.06% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,132
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1031.9%
Average inflation rate
4.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,132
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,032
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1937 → 1998
$1,132
$100 in 1998 → 1937
$8.83
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1998
Between 1937 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1031.9%, which works out to an average of
4.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1998: the 1937 dollar
lost 91.2% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1998 at the same ratio, 11.32: $1,000 becomes
$11,319, and $10,000 becomes $113,194.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1998
$1.00
$11.32
$5.00
$56.60
$10.00
$113
$20.00
$226
$50.00
$566
$100
$1,132
$500
$5,660
$1,000
$11,319
$5,000
$56,597
$10,000
$113,194
$100,000
$1,131,944
$1,000,000
$11,319,444
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1998
Between 1937 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 2250.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 504.5%, against 1031.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.06%
$1,132
Medical care
5.31%
$2,350
Food
4.20%
$1,227
Transportation
3.81%
$977
Apparel
2.99%
$605
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 1998
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 1937–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$1,132
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $232 by
1967, on its way to $1,132 in 1998; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,132; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1998: $100 is worth $1,132 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1998/