$100 in 1939 is worth $355 in 1974,
because prices increased 254.7% over that period, an average of
3.68% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$355
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
254.7%
Average inflation rate
3.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$355
Price difference ($100 base)
$255
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1939 → 1974
$355
$100 in 1974 → 1939
$28.19
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1974
Between 1939 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 254.7%, which works out to an average of
3.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1974: the 1939 dollar
lost 71.8% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 1974 at the same ratio, 3.55: $1,000 becomes
$3,547, and $10,000 becomes $35,468.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1974
$1.00
$3.55
$5.00
$17.73
$10.00
$35.47
$20.00
$70.94
$50.00
$177
$100
$355
$500
$1,773
$1,000
$3,547
$5,000
$17,734
$10,000
$35,468
$100,000
$354,676
$1,000,000
$3,546,763
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1974
Between 1939 and 1974, food rose the most, up 366.9%, while transportation rose the least, up 220.3%, against 254.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.68%
$355
Food
4.50%
$467
Medical care
4.13%
$412
Apparel
3.39%
$321
Transportation
3.38%
$320
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 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1939–1974 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$279
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$355
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $202 by
1957, on its way to $355 in 1974; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $355; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1974: $100 is worth $355 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1974/