$100 in 1937 is worth $1,667 in 2016,
because prices increased 1566.7% over that period, an average of
3.63% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,667
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1566.7%
Average inflation rate
3.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,667
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,567
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1937 → 2016
$1,667
$100 in 2016 → 1937
$6.00
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2016
Between 1937 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1566.7%, which works out to an average of
3.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2016: the 1937 dollar
lost 94.0% of its purchasing power over
these 79 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 2016 at the same ratio, 16.67: $1,000 becomes
$16,667, and $10,000 becomes $166,672.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2016
$1.00
$16.67
$5.00
$83.34
$10.00
$167
$20.00
$333
$50.00
$833
$100
$1,667
$500
$8,334
$1,000
$16,667
$5,000
$83,336
$10,000
$166,672
$100,000
$1,666,715
$1,000,000
$16,667,153
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2016
Between 1937 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 4401.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 472.9%, against 1566.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.63%
$1,667
Medical care
4.94%
$4,502
Food
3.79%
$1,893
Transportation
3.34%
$1,344
Apparel
2.23%
$573
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 2016
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 1937–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,667
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $421 by
1977, on its way to $1,667 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,667; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,667 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2016/