$100 in 1937 is worth $1,744 in 2018,
because prices increased 1643.8% over that period, an average of
3.59% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$1,744
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1643.8%
Average inflation rate
3.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,744
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,644
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1937 → 2018
$1,744
$100 in 2018 → 1937
$5.73
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2018
Between 1937 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1643.8%, which works out to an average of
3.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2018: the 1937 dollar
lost 94.3% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 2018 at the same ratio, 17.44: $1,000 becomes
$17,438, and $10,000 becomes $174,380.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2018
$1.00
$17.44
$5.00
$87.19
$10.00
$174
$20.00
$349
$50.00
$872
$100
$1,744
$500
$8,719
$1,000
$17,438
$5,000
$87,190
$10,000
$174,380
$100,000
$1,743,799
$1,000,000
$17,437,986
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2018
Between 1937 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 4605.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 471.2%, against 1643.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.59%
$1,744
Medical care
4.87%
$4,706
Food
3.73%
$1,936
Transportation
3.36%
$1,453
Apparel
2.17%
$571
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 2018
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 1937–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$1,744
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $421 by
1977, on its way to $1,744 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $1,744; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2018: $100 is worth $1,744 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2018/