$100 in 1937 is worth $1,278 in 2003,
because prices increased 1177.8% over that period, an average of
3.94% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,278
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1177.8%
Average inflation rate
3.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,278
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,178
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1937 → 2003
$1,278
$100 in 2003 → 1937
$7.83
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2003
Between 1937 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1177.8%, which works out to an average of
3.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2003: the 1937 dollar
lost 92.2% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 2003 at the same ratio, 12.78: $1,000 becomes
$12,778, and $10,000 becomes $127,778.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2003
$1.00
$12.78
$5.00
$63.89
$10.00
$128
$20.00
$256
$50.00
$639
$100
$1,278
$500
$6,389
$1,000
$12,778
$5,000
$63,889
$10,000
$127,778
$100,000
$1,277,778
$1,000,000
$12,777,778
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2003
Between 1937 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 2784.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 449.5%, against 1177.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.94%
$1,278
Medical care
5.23%
$2,884
Food
4.05%
$1,374
Transportation
3.68%
$1,087
Apparel
2.62%
$550
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 2003
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 1937–2003 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
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$1,278
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $290 by
1972, on its way to $1,278 in 2003; 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: 2003
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,278; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2003: $100 is worth $1,278 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2003/