$100 in 1939 is worth $1,096 in 1995,
because prices increased 996.4% over that period, an average of
4.37% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,096
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
996.4%
Average inflation rate
4.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,096
Price difference ($100 base)
$996
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1939 → 1995
$1,096
$100 in 1995 → 1939
$9.12
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1995
Between 1939 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 996.4%, which works out to an average of
4.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1995: the 1939 dollar
lost 90.9% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 1995 at the same ratio, 10.96: $1,000 becomes
$10,964, and $10,000 becomes $109,640.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1995
$1.00
$10.96
$5.00
$54.82
$10.00
$110
$20.00
$219
$50.00
$548
$100
$1,096
$500
$5,482
$1,000
$10,964
$5,000
$54,820
$10,000
$109,640
$100,000
$1,096,403
$1,000,000
$10,964,029
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1995
Between 1939 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 2040.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 511.1%, against 996.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.37%
$1,096
Medical care
5.62%
$2,141
Food
4.62%
$1,258
Transportation
4.15%
$973
Apparel
3.29%
$611
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 1995
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 1939–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$1,096
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $240 by
1967, on its way to $1,096 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,096; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1995: $100 is worth $1,096 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1995/