$100 in 1939 is worth $1,173 in 1998,
because prices increased 1072.7% over that period, an average of
4.26% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,173
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1072.7%
Average inflation rate
4.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,173
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,073
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1939 → 1998
$1,173
$100 in 1998 → 1939
$8.53
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1998
Between 1939 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1072.7%, which works out to an average of
4.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1998: the 1939 dollar
lost 91.5% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 1998 at the same ratio, 11.73: $1,000 becomes
$11,727, and $10,000 becomes $117,266.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1998
$1.00
$11.73
$5.00
$58.63
$10.00
$117
$20.00
$235
$50.00
$586
$100
$1,173
$500
$5,863
$1,000
$11,727
$5,000
$58,633
$10,000
$117,266
$100,000
$1,172,662
$1,000,000
$11,726,619
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1998
Between 1939 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 2250.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 515.7%, against 1072.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.26%
$1,173
Medical care
5.50%
$2,350
Food
4.53%
$1,362
Transportation
3.96%
$990
Apparel
3.13%
$616
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 1998
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 1939–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$1,173
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $264 by
1969, on its way to $1,173 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,173; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1998: $100 is worth $1,173 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1998/