$100 in 1937 is worth $2,178 in 2024,
because prices increased 2078.4% over that period, an average of
3.61% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$2,178
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2078.4%
Average inflation rate
3.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$2,178
Price difference ($100 base)
$2,078
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1937 → 2024
$2,178
$100 in 2024 → 1937
$4.59
What happened to prices between 1937 and 2024
Between 1937 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2078.4%, which works out to an average of
3.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2024: the 1937 dollar
lost 95.4% of its purchasing power over
these 87 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 2024 at the same ratio, 21.78: $1,000 becomes
$21,784, and $10,000 becomes $217,840.
Amount in 1937
Value in 2024
$1.00
$21.78
$5.00
$109
$10.00
$218
$20.00
$436
$50.00
$1,089
$100
$2,178
$500
$10,892
$1,000
$21,784
$5,000
$108,920
$10,000
$217,840
$100,000
$2,178,396
$1,000,000
$21,783,958
Inflation by spending category, 1937–2024
Between 1937 and 2024, medical care rose the most, up 5374.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 497.7%, against 2078.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.61%
$2,178
Medical care
4.71%
$5,474
Food
3.78%
$2,521
Transportation
3.42%
$1,867
Apparel
2.08%
$598
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 2024
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 1937–2024 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
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$2,178
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $670 by
1982, on its way to $2,178 in 2024; 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $2,178; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 2024: $100 is worth $2,178 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-2024/