$100 in 1937 is worth $2,116 in 2023,
because prices increased 2016.0% over that period, an average of
3.61% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$2,116
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2016.0%
Average inflation rate
3.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,116
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,016
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1937 → 2023
$2,116
$100 in 2023 → 1937
$4.73
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2023
Between 1937 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2016.0%, which works out to an average of
3.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2023: the 1937 dollar
lost 95.3% of its purchasing power over
these 86 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 2023 at the same ratio, 21.16: $1,000 becomes
$21,160, and $10,000 becomes $211,599.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2023
$1.00
$21.16
$5.00
$106
$10.00
$212
$20.00
$423
$50.00
$1,058
$100
$2,116
$500
$10,580
$1,000
$21,160
$5,000
$105,799
$10,000
$211,599
$100,000
$2,115,986
$1,000,000
$21,159,861
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2023
Between 1937 and 2023, medical care rose the most, up 5230.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 493.5%, against 2016.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.61%
$2,116
Medical care
4.73%
$5,331
Food
3.80%
$2,465
Transportation
3.45%
$1,841
Apparel
2.09%
$594
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 2023
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 1937–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,797
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$2,116
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $670 by
1982, on its way to $2,116 in 2023; 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $2,116; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2023: $100 is worth $2,116 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2023/