$100 in 1938 is worth $1,652 in 2013,
because prices increased 1552.2% over that period, an average of
3.81% a year.
$100 in 1938 has
the same buying power as
$1,652
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1552.2%
Average inflation rate
3.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,652
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,552
CPI in 1938
14.1
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1938
-2.08%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1938 → 2013
$1,652
$100 in 2013 → 1938
$6.05
What happened to prices between 1938 and 2013
Between 1938 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.1 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1552.2%, which works out to an average of
3.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1938 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2013: the 1938 dollar
lost 93.9% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 2013 at the same ratio, 16.52: $1,000 becomes
$16,522, and $10,000 becomes $165,218.
Amount in 1938
Value in 2013
$1.00
$16.52
$5.00
$82.61
$10.00
$165
$20.00
$330
$50.00
$826
$100
$1,652
$500
$8,261
$1,000
$16,522
$5,000
$82,609
$10,000
$165,218
$100,000
$1,652,177
$1,000,000
$16,521,773
Inflation by spending category, 1938–2013
Between 1938 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 4027.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 481.8%, against 1552.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1938
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1938 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.81%
$1,652
Medical care
5.09%
$4,128
Food
4.05%
$1,959
Transportation
3.67%
$1,489
Apparel
2.38%
$582
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 2013
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 1938–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,546
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,652
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1938
$100 from 1938 had already become $315 by
1973, on its way to $1,652 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1938 had the buying
power of $1,652; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1938 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,652 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1938-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1938 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1938-to-2013/