$100 in 1938 is worth $1,221 in 2000,
because prices increased 1121.3% over that period, an average of
4.12% a year.
$100 in 1938 has
the same buying power as
$1,221
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1121.3%
Average inflation rate
4.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,221
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,121
CPI in 1938
14.1
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1938
-2.08%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1938 → 2000
$1,221
$100 in 2000 → 1938
$8.19
What happened to prices between 1938 and 2000
Between 1938 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.1 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1121.3%, which works out to an average of
4.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1938 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2000: the 1938 dollar
lost 91.8% of its purchasing power over
these 62 years.
Consumer prices fell 2.1% in 1938, reversing most of 1937’s
gain and interrupting four straight years of recovery from the Depression’s
trough. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the bottom of the
downturn, which had begun that May, to June 1938, a sharp 13-month
contraction that briefly pushed unemployment back up near 19%. Even in a
year the economy was shrinking again, Congress passed one of the New Deal’s
most lasting reforms. The Fair Labor Standards Act, signed June 25 and
effective that October, established the first federal minimum wage, 25
cents an hour, capped the standard workweek at 44 hours with time-and-a-half
overtime beyond it, and restricted the employment of children in most
industries. The wage floor and hours limits applied only to workers engaged
in interstate commerce at first, but they set a precedent that would expand
in the decades that followed. Consumer prices stood 42.4% above their
1913 level and 17.5% below their 1929 peak, evidence of how
far the recovery still had to go even eight years after the Depression
began. First-class postage held at 3 cents.
Every 1938 amount converts to 2000 at the same ratio, 12.21: $1,000 becomes
$12,213, and $10,000 becomes $122,128.
Amount in 1938
Value in 2000
$1.00
$12.21
$5.00
$61.06
$10.00
$122
$20.00
$244
$50.00
$611
$100
$1,221
$500
$6,106
$1,000
$12,213
$5,000
$61,064
$10,000
$122,128
$100,000
$1,221,277
$1,000,000
$12,212,766
Inflation by spending category, 1938–2000
Between 1938 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 2432.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 491.8%, against 1121.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1938
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1938 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.12%
$1,221
Medical care
5.35%
$2,532
Food
4.33%
$1,387
Transportation
3.87%
$1,050
Apparel
2.91%
$592
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1938: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1938 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1938–2000 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1938, at end
1938–1940
-0.36%
-0.7%
$99.29
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$171
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$210
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$275
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$584
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$927
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,221
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1938
$100 from 1938 had already become $247 by
1968, on its way to $1,221 in 2000; 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 1.4% in 1939, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1938 had the buying
power of $1,221; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1938 to 2000: $100 is worth $1,221 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1938-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1938 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1938-to-2000/