$100 in 1939 is worth $233 in 1966,
because prices increased 133.1% over that period, an average of
3.18% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$233
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
133.1%
Average inflation rate
3.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$233
Price difference ($100 base)
$133
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1939 → 1966
$233
$100 in 1966 → 1939
$42.90
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1966
Between 1939 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 133.1%, which works out to an average of
3.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1966: the 1939 dollar
lost 57.1% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1966 at the same ratio, 2.33: $1,000 becomes
$2,331, and $10,000 becomes $23,309.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1966
$1.00
$2.33
$5.00
$11.65
$10.00
$23.31
$20.00
$46.62
$50.00
$117
$100
$233
$500
$1,165
$1,000
$2,331
$5,000
$11,655
$10,000
$23,309
$100,000
$233,094
$1,000,000
$2,330,935
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1966
Between 1939 and 1966, food rose the most, up 186.4%, while transportation rose the least, up 125.9%, against 133.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.18%
$233
Food
3.97%
$286
Medical care
3.53%
$255
Apparel
3.08%
$227
Transportation
3.06%
$226
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 1966
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 1939–1966 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$213
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$233
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $191 by
1952, on its way to $233 in 1966; 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 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $233; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1966: $100 is worth $233 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1966/