$100 in 1939 is worth $1,569 in 2010,
because prices increased 1468.7% over that period, an average of
3.95% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,569
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1468.7%
Average inflation rate
3.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,569
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,469
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1939 → 2010
$1,569
$100 in 2010 → 1939
$6.37
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2010
Between 1939 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1468.7%, which works out to an average of
3.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2010: the 1939 dollar
lost 93.6% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 2010 at the same ratio, 15.69: $1,000 becomes
$15,687, and $10,000 becomes $156,875.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2010
$1.00
$15.69
$5.00
$78.44
$10.00
$157
$20.00
$314
$50.00
$784
$100
$1,569
$500
$7,844
$1,000
$15,687
$5,000
$78,437
$10,000
$156,875
$100,000
$1,568,748
$1,000,000
$15,687,482
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2010
Between 1939 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 3671.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 453.3%, against 1468.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.95%
$1,569
Medical care
5.25%
$3,771
Food
4.20%
$1,861
Transportation
3.74%
$1,352
Apparel
2.44%
$553
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 2010
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 1939–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,569
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $355 by
1974, on its way to $1,569 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,569; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,569 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2010/