$100 in 1937 is worth $122 in 1944,
because prices increased 22.2% over that period, an average of
2.91% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$122
in 1944
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
22.2%
Average inflation rate
2.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$122
Price difference ($100 base)
$22.22
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1944
17.6
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
$100 in 1937 → 1944
$122
$100 in 1944 → 1937
$81.82
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1944
Between 1937 and 1944, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 17.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 22.2%, which works out to an average of
2.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.82 buys in 1944: the 1937 dollar
lost 18.2% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1944 at the same ratio, 1.22: $1,000 becomes
$1,222, and $10,000 becomes $12,222.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1944
$1.00
$1.22
$5.00
$6.11
$10.00
$12.22
$20.00
$24.44
$50.00
$61.11
$100
$122
$500
$611
$1,000
$1,222
$5,000
$6,111
$10,000
$12,222
$100,000
$122,222
$1,000,000
$1,222,222
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1944
Between 1937 and 1944, apparel rose the most, up 35.5%, while transportation rose the least, up 9.7%, against 22.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1944, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.91%
$122
Apparel
4.43%
$135
Food
3.71%
$129
Medical care
1.71%
$113
Transportation
1.33%
$110
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 1944
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.89% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1937–1944 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1937, at end
1937–1940
-0.93%
-2.8%
$97.22
1940–1944
5.89%
25.7%
$122
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $97.22 by
1940, on its way to $122 in 1944; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 10.9% in 1942, and prices fell 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1944, prices rose 1.7% and $100 from 1937 had the buying
power of $122; the year's average CPI of 17.6 is the level
behind every 1944 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose just 1.7% in 1944, down from 1943’s
6.1% and the slowest increase of the war years, as price and wage controls
held the cost of living nearly flat even as the conflict reached its most
expensive phase. The war itself turned decisively that June, when more than
150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, opening the
long-planned second front against Nazi Germany. Congress used the same
month to plan for the war’s end, passing the GI Bill on June 22 to give
returning veterans money for college or vocational training, low-cost home
and business loans, and unemployment benefits, a package that would reshape
American housing and higher education for a generation. The following
month, delegates from 44 Allied nations gathered at Bretton Woods, New
Hampshire, and agreed to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, itself
pegged to gold, creating the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
to manage the new system. Consumer prices stood 77.8% above their
1913 level, a cumulative wartime rise held down by controls
that would start unwinding the following year. First-class postage held at
3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1937 to 1944: $100 is worth $122 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1944/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1944. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1944/