$100 in 1937 is worth $1,514 in 2010,
because prices increased 1414.3% over that period, an average of
3.79% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,514
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1414.3%
Average inflation rate
3.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,514
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,414
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1937 → 2010
$1,514
$100 in 2010 → 1937
$6.60
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2010
Between 1937 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1414.3%, which works out to an average of
3.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2010: the 1937 dollar
lost 93.4% of its purchasing power over
these 73 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 2010 at the same ratio, 15.14: $1,000 becomes
$15,143, and $10,000 becomes $151,428.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2010
$1.00
$15.14
$5.00
$75.71
$10.00
$151
$20.00
$303
$50.00
$757
$100
$1,514
$500
$7,571
$1,000
$15,143
$5,000
$75,714
$10,000
$151,428
$100,000
$1,514,278
$1,000,000
$15,142,778
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2010
Between 1937 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 3671.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 443.2%, against 1414.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.79%
$1,514
Medical care
5.10%
$3,771
Food
3.94%
$1,677
Transportation
3.61%
$1,334
Apparel
2.35%
$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 2010
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 1937–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,514
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $290 by
1972, on its way to $1,514 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,514; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,514 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2010/