$100 in 1939 is worth $774 in 1985,
because prices increased 674.1% over that period, an average of
4.55% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$774
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
674.1%
Average inflation rate
4.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$774
Price difference ($100 base)
$674
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1939 → 1985
$774
$100 in 1985 → 1939
$12.92
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1985
Between 1939 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 674.1%, which works out to an average of
4.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1985: the 1939 dollar
lost 87.1% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 1985 at the same ratio, 7.74: $1,000 becomes
$7,741, and $10,000 becomes $77,410.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1985
$1.00
$7.74
$5.00
$38.71
$10.00
$77.41
$20.00
$155
$50.00
$387
$100
$774
$500
$3,871
$1,000
$7,741
$5,000
$38,705
$10,000
$77,410
$100,000
$774,101
$1,000,000
$7,741,007
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1985
Between 1939 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 1001.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 386.1%, against 674.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.55%
$774
Medical care
5.36%
$1,102
Food
4.88%
$895
Transportation
4.46%
$744
Apparel
3.50%
$486
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 1985
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1939–1985 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$593
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$774
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $215 by
1961, on its way to $774 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $774; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1985: $100 is worth $774 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1985/