$100 in 1937 is worth $1,157 in 1999,
because prices increased 1056.9% over that period, an average of
4.03% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,157
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1056.9%
Average inflation rate
4.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,157
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,057
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1937 → 1999
$1,157
$100 in 1999 → 1937
$8.64
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1999
Between 1937 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1056.9%, which works out to an average of
4.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1999: the 1937 dollar
lost 91.4% of its purchasing power over
these 62 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 1999 at the same ratio, 11.57: $1,000 becomes
$11,569, and $10,000 becomes $115,694.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1999
$1.00
$11.57
$5.00
$57.85
$10.00
$116
$20.00
$231
$50.00
$578
$100
$1,157
$500
$5,785
$1,000
$11,569
$5,000
$57,847
$10,000
$115,694
$100,000
$1,156,944
$1,000,000
$11,569,444
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1999
Between 1937 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 2333.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 496.8%, against 1056.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.03%
$1,157
Medical care
5.28%
$2,433
Food
4.16%
$1,253
Transportation
3.78%
$996
Apparel
2.92%
$597
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 1999
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 1937–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$1,157
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $232 by
1967, on its way to $1,157 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,157; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1999: $100 is worth $1,157 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1999/