$100 in 1937 is worth $1,356 in 2005,
because prices increased 1256.3% over that period, an average of
3.91% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,356
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1256.3%
Average inflation rate
3.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,356
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,256
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1937 → 2005
$1,356
$100 in 2005 → 1937
$7.37
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2005
Between 1937 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1256.3%, which works out to an average of
3.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2005: the 1937 dollar
lost 92.6% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 2005 at the same ratio, 13.56: $1,000 becomes
$13,563, and $10,000 becomes $135,625.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2005
$1.00
$13.56
$5.00
$67.81
$10.00
$136
$20.00
$271
$50.00
$678
$100
$1,356
$500
$6,781
$1,000
$13,563
$5,000
$67,813
$10,000
$135,625
$100,000
$1,356,250
$1,000,000
$13,562,500
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2005
Between 1937 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 3037.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 443.2%, against 1256.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.91%
$1,356
Medical care
5.20%
$3,138
Food
4.02%
$1,456
Transportation
3.72%
$1,199
Apparel
2.52%
$543
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 2005
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 1937–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$1,356
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $290 by
1972, on its way to $1,356 in 2005; 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: 2005
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,356; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2005: $100 is worth $1,356 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2005/