$100 in 1939 is worth $1,492 in 2007,
because prices increased 1391.7% over that period, an average of
4.05% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,492
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1391.7%
Average inflation rate
4.05% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,492
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,392
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1939 → 2007
$1,492
$100 in 2007 → 1939
$6.70
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2007
Between 1939 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1391.7%, which works out to an average of
4.05% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2007: the 1939 dollar
lost 93.3% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 2007 at the same ratio, 14.92: $1,000 becomes
$14,917, and $10,000 becomes $149,167.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2007
$1.00
$14.92
$5.00
$74.58
$10.00
$149
$20.00
$298
$50.00
$746
$100
$1,492
$500
$7,458
$1,000
$14,917
$5,000
$74,583
$10,000
$149,167
$100,000
$1,491,669
$1,000,000
$14,916,691
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2007
Between 1939 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 3308.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 450.9%, against 1391.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.05%
$1,492
Medical care
5.33%
$3,408
Food
4.27%
$1,720
Transportation
3.83%
$1,291
Apparel
2.54%
$551
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 2007
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 1939–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$1,492
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $355 by
1974, on its way to $1,492 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,492; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2007: $100 is worth $1,492 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2007/