$100 in 1939 is worth $409 in 1976,
because prices increased 309.4% over that period, an average of
3.88% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$409
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
309.4%
Average inflation rate
3.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$409
Price difference ($100 base)
$309
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1939 → 1976
$409
$100 in 1976 → 1939
$24.43
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1976
Between 1939 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 309.4%, which works out to an average of
3.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1976: the 1939 dollar
lost 75.6% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 1976 at the same ratio, 4.09: $1,000 becomes
$4,094, and $10,000 becomes $40,935.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1976
$1.00
$4.09
$5.00
$20.47
$10.00
$40.94
$20.00
$81.87
$50.00
$205
$100
$409
$500
$2,047
$1,000
$4,094
$5,000
$20,468
$10,000
$40,935
$100,000
$409,353
$1,000,000
$4,093,525
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1976
Between 1939 and 1976, food rose the most, up 422.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 248.1%, against 309.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.88%
$409
Food
4.57%
$522
Medical care
4.47%
$505
Transportation
3.71%
$385
Apparel
3.43%
$348
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1939–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$409
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $202 by
1957, on its way to $409 in 1976; 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: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $409; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1976: $100 is worth $409 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1976/