$100 in 1939 is worth $788 in 1986,
because prices increased 688.5% over that period, an average of
4.49% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$788
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
688.5%
Average inflation rate
4.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$788
Price difference ($100 base)
$688
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1939 → 1986
$788
$100 in 1986 → 1939
$12.68
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1986
Between 1939 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 688.5%, which works out to an average of
4.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1986: the 1939 dollar
lost 87.3% of its purchasing power over
these 47 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 1986 at the same ratio, 7.88: $1,000 becomes
$7,885, and $10,000 becomes $78,849.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1986
$1.00
$7.88
$5.00
$39.42
$10.00
$78.85
$20.00
$158
$50.00
$394
$100
$788
$500
$3,942
$1,000
$7,885
$5,000
$39,424
$10,000
$78,849
$100,000
$788,489
$1,000,000
$7,884,892
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1986
Between 1939 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 1084.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 390.3%, against 688.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.49%
$788
Medical care
5.40%
$1,184
Food
4.84%
$924
Transportation
4.28%
$715
Apparel
3.44%
$490
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 1986
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 1939–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$788
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $220 by
1963, on its way to $788 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $788; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1986: $100 is worth $788 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1986/