$100 in 1939 is worth $1,294 in 2002,
because prices increased 1194.2% over that period, an average of
4.15% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,294
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1194.2%
Average inflation rate
4.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,294
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,194
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1939 → 2002
$1,294
$100 in 2002 → 1939
$7.73
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2002
Between 1939 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1194.2%, which works out to an average of
4.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2002: the 1939 dollar
lost 92.3% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 2002 at the same ratio, 12.94: $1,000 becomes
$12,942, and $10,000 becomes $129,424.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2002
$1.00
$12.94
$5.00
$64.71
$10.00
$129
$20.00
$259
$50.00
$647
$100
$1,294
$500
$6,471
$1,000
$12,942
$5,000
$64,712
$10,000
$129,424
$100,000
$1,294,245
$1,000,000
$12,942,446
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2002
Between 1939 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 2672.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 474.1%, against 1194.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.15%
$1,294
Medical care
5.42%
$2,773
Food
4.38%
$1,493
Transportation
3.83%
$1,069
Apparel
2.81%
$574
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 2002
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 1939–2002 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,239
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$1,294
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $264 by
1969, on its way to $1,294 in 2002; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,294; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2002: $100 is worth $1,294 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2002/