$100 in 1939 is worth $173 in 1950,
because prices increased 73.4% over that period, an average of
5.13% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$173
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
73.4%
Average inflation rate
5.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$173
Price difference ($100 base)
$73.38
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1939 → 1950
$173
$100 in 1950 → 1939
$57.68
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1950
Between 1939 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 73.4%, which works out to an average of
5.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.58 buys in 1950: the 1939 dollar
lost 42.3% of its purchasing power over
these 11 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.4% in 1939, closing out a decade in which the CPI
fell in six years and rose in four, leaving prices 18.7% below their
1929 level even after the mid-decade recovery. Measured
against the start of the CPI’s modern record, prices still stood 40.4%
above their 1913 level, a reminder that even a decade defined
by deflation left the cost of living well above where it had been a
generation earlier. The decade’s final months reset the economic picture
entirely. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, and Britain and France
declared war two days later; the United States stayed formally neutral
under the Neutrality Acts, but Allied orders for war materiel began flowing
to American factories almost immediately, a demand shock that would do more
to end the Depression over the next few years than any peacetime relief
program had managed. Domestic policy kept building on the New Deal’s
framework, too: the federal minimum wage rose to 30 cents an hour that
October, the second step in the schedule set by the 1938 Fair Labor
Standards Act. Amid it all, the New York World’s Fair opened April 30 in
Queens, themed “The World of Tomorrow” and drawing tens of millions of
visitors with exhibits on television and other technologies promising a
more prosperous decade than the one just ending. First-class postage held
at 3 cents.
Every 1939 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.73: $1,000 becomes
$1,734, and $10,000 becomes $17,338.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.73
$5.00
$8.67
$10.00
$17.34
$20.00
$34.68
$50.00
$86.69
$100
$173
$500
$867
$1,000
$1,734
$5,000
$8,669
$10,000
$17,338
$100,000
$173,381
$1,000,000
$1,733,813
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1950
Between 1939 and 1950, food rose the most, up 115.3%, while medical care rose the least, up 46.6%, against 73.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.13%
$173
Food
7.22%
$215
Apparel
5.83%
$187
Transportation
4.29%
$159
Medical care
3.54%
$147
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1939: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1939 to 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1939–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1939, at end
1939–1940
0.72%
0.7%
$101
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$173
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $127 by
1944, on its way to $173 in 1950; 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 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $173; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1950: $100 is worth $173 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1950/