$100 in 1939 is worth $980 in 1991,
because prices increased 879.9% over that period, an average of
4.49% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$980
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
879.9%
Average inflation rate
4.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$980
Price difference ($100 base)
$880
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1939 → 1991
$980
$100 in 1991 → 1939
$10.21
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1991
Between 1939 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 879.9%, which works out to an average of
4.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1991: the 1939 dollar
lost 89.8% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 1991 at the same ratio, 9.80: $1,000 becomes
$9,799, and $10,000 becomes $97,986.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1991
$1.00
$9.80
$5.00
$48.99
$10.00
$97.99
$20.00
$196
$50.00
$490
$100
$980
$500
$4,899
$1,000
$9,799
$5,000
$48,993
$10,000
$97,986
$100,000
$979,856
$1,000,000
$9,798,561
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1991
Between 1939 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 1618.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 495.8%, against 879.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.49%
$980
Medical care
5.62%
$1,718
Food
4.82%
$1,155
Transportation
4.24%
$866
Apparel
3.49%
$596
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 1991
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 1939–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$940
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$980
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $227 by
1965, on its way to $980 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $980; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1991: $100 is worth $980 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1991/