$100 in 1937 is worth $1,249 in 2002,
because prices increased 1149.3% over that period, an average of
3.96% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,249
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1149.3%
Average inflation rate
3.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,249
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,149
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1937 → 2002
$1,249
$100 in 2002 → 1937
$8.00
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2002
Between 1937 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1149.3%, which works out to an average of
3.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2002: the 1937 dollar
lost 92.0% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 2002 at the same ratio, 12.49: $1,000 becomes
$12,493, and $10,000 becomes $124,931.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2002
$1.00
$12.49
$5.00
$62.47
$10.00
$125
$20.00
$250
$50.00
$625
$100
$1,249
$500
$6,247
$1,000
$12,493
$5,000
$62,465
$10,000
$124,931
$100,000
$1,249,306
$1,000,000
$12,493,056
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2002
Between 1937 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 2672.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 463.6%, against 1149.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.96%
$1,249
Medical care
5.24%
$2,773
Food
4.08%
$1,345
Transportation
3.69%
$1,054
Apparel
2.70%
$564
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 2002
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 1937–2002 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,196
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$1,249
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $232 by
1967, on its way to $1,249 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,249; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2002: $100 is worth $1,249 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2002/