$100 in 1939 is worth $1,652 in 2012,
because prices increased 1551.8% over that period, an average of
3.92% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,652
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1551.8%
Average inflation rate
3.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,652
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,552
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1939 → 2012
$1,652
$100 in 2012 → 1939
$6.05
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2012
Between 1939 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1551.8%, which works out to an average of
3.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2012: the 1939 dollar
lost 93.9% of its purchasing power over
these 73 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 2012 at the same ratio, 16.52: $1,000 becomes
$16,518, and $10,000 becomes $165,176.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2012
$1.00
$16.52
$5.00
$82.59
$10.00
$165
$20.00
$330
$50.00
$826
$100
$1,652
$500
$8,259
$1,000
$16,518
$5,000
$82,588
$10,000
$165,176
$100,000
$1,651,755
$1,000,000
$16,517,554
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2012
Between 1939 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 3928.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 484.6%, against 1551.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.92%
$1,652
Medical care
5.19%
$4,028
Food
4.18%
$1,981
Transportation
3.80%
$1,520
Apparel
2.45%
$585
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 2012
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 1939–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,652
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $355 by
1974, on its way to $1,652 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,652; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,652 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2012/