$100 in 1939 is worth $1,703 in 2014,
because prices increased 1603.1% over that period, an average of
3.85% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,703
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1603.1%
Average inflation rate
3.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,703
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,603
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1939 → 2014
$1,703
$100 in 2014 → 1939
$5.87
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2014
Between 1939 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1603.1%, which works out to an average of
3.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2014: the 1939 dollar
lost 94.1% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 2014 at the same ratio, 17.03: $1,000 becomes
$17,031, and $10,000 becomes $170,314.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2014
$1.00
$17.03
$5.00
$85.16
$10.00
$170
$20.00
$341
$50.00
$852
$100
$1,703
$500
$8,516
$1,000
$17,031
$5,000
$85,157
$10,000
$170,314
$100,000
$1,703,137
$1,000,000
$17,031,367
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2014
Between 1939 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 4126.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 490.3%, against 1603.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.85%
$1,703
Medical care
5.12%
$4,226
Food
4.11%
$2,057
Transportation
3.69%
$1,510
Apparel
2.40%
$590
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 2014
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 1939–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,703
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $355 by
1974, on its way to $1,703 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,703; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,703 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2014/