$100 in 1937 is worth $1,646 in 2015,
because prices increased 1546.0% over that period, an average of
3.66% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,646
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1546.0%
Average inflation rate
3.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,646
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,546
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1937 → 2015
$1,646
$100 in 2015 → 1937
$6.08
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2015
Between 1937 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1546.0%, which works out to an average of
3.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2015: the 1937 dollar
lost 93.9% of its purchasing power over
these 78 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 2015 at the same ratio, 16.46: $1,000 becomes
$16,460, and $10,000 becomes $164,595.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2015
$1.00
$16.46
$5.00
$82.30
$10.00
$165
$20.00
$329
$50.00
$823
$100
$1,646
$500
$8,230
$1,000
$16,460
$5,000
$82,298
$10,000
$164,595
$100,000
$1,645,951
$1,000,000
$16,459,514
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2015
Between 1937 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 4237.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 472.3%, against 1546.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.66%
$1,646
Medical care
4.95%
$4,337
Food
3.84%
$1,887
Transportation
3.42%
$1,373
Apparel
2.26%
$572
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 2015
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 1937–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$1,646
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $421 by
1977, on its way to $1,646 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,646; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2015: $100 is worth $1,646 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2015/