$100 in 1937 is worth $1,594 in 2012,
because prices increased 1494.4% over that period, an average of
3.76% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,594
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1494.4%
Average inflation rate
3.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,594
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,494
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1937 → 2012
$1,594
$100 in 2012 → 1937
$6.27
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2012
Between 1937 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1494.4%, which works out to an average of
3.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2012: the 1937 dollar
lost 93.7% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 2012 at the same ratio, 15.94: $1,000 becomes
$15,944, and $10,000 becomes $159,440.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2012
$1.00
$15.94
$5.00
$79.72
$10.00
$159
$20.00
$319
$50.00
$797
$100
$1,594
$500
$7,972
$1,000
$15,944
$5,000
$79,720
$10,000
$159,440
$100,000
$1,594,403
$1,000,000
$15,944,028
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2012
Between 1937 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 3928.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 473.9%, against 1494.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.76%
$1,594
Medical care
5.05%
$4,028
Food
3.92%
$1,785
Transportation
3.68%
$1,499
Apparel
2.36%
$574
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 2012
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 1937–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,594
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $290 by
1972, on its way to $1,594 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,594; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,594 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2012/