$100 in 1939 is worth $1,155 in 1997,
because prices increased 1054.7% over that period, an average of
4.31% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,155
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1054.7%
Average inflation rate
4.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,155
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,055
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1939 → 1997
$1,155
$100 in 1997 → 1939
$8.66
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1997
Between 1939 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1054.7%, which works out to an average of
4.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1997: the 1939 dollar
lost 91.3% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 1997 at the same ratio, 11.55: $1,000 becomes
$11,547, and $10,000 becomes $115,468.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1997
$1.00
$11.55
$5.00
$57.73
$10.00
$115
$20.00
$231
$50.00
$577
$100
$1,155
$500
$5,773
$1,000
$11,547
$5,000
$57,734
$10,000
$115,468
$100,000
$1,154,676
$1,000,000
$11,546,763
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1997
Between 1939 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 2177.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 515.3%, against 1054.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.31%
$1,155
Medical care
5.54%
$2,278
Food
4.57%
$1,333
Transportation
4.07%
$1,009
Apparel
3.18%
$615
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 1997
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 1939–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$1,155
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $240 by
1967, on its way to $1,155 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,155; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1997: $100 is worth $1,155 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1997/