$100 in 1939 is worth $851 in 1988,
because prices increased 751.1% over that period, an average of
4.47% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$851
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
751.1%
Average inflation rate
4.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$851
Price difference ($100 base)
$751
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1939 → 1988
$851
$100 in 1988 → 1939
$11.75
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1988
Between 1939 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 751.1%, which works out to an average of
4.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1988: the 1939 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1988 at the same ratio, 8.51: $1,000 becomes
$8,511, and $10,000 becomes $85,108.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1988
$1.00
$8.51
$5.00
$42.55
$10.00
$85.11
$20.00
$170
$50.00
$426
$100
$851
$500
$4,255
$1,000
$8,511
$5,000
$42,554
$10,000
$85,108
$100,000
$851,079
$1,000,000
$8,510,791
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1988
Between 1939 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 1245.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 434.3%, against 751.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.47%
$851
Medical care
5.45%
$1,346
Food
4.81%
$1,002
Transportation
4.23%
$760
Apparel
3.48%
$534
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 1988
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 1939–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$851
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $220 by
1963, on its way to $851 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $851; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1988: $100 is worth $851 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1988/