$100 in 1939 is worth $1,705 in 2015,
because prices increased 1605.2% over that period, an average of
3.80% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,705
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1605.2%
Average inflation rate
3.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,705
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,605
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1939 → 2015
$1,705
$100 in 2015 → 1939
$5.86
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2015
Between 1939 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1605.2%, which works out to an average of
3.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2015: the 1939 dollar
lost 94.1% of its purchasing power over
these 76 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 2015 at the same ratio, 17.05: $1,000 becomes
$17,052, and $10,000 becomes $170,516.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2015
$1.00
$17.05
$5.00
$85.26
$10.00
$171
$20.00
$341
$50.00
$853
$100
$1,705
$500
$8,526
$1,000
$17,052
$5,000
$85,258
$10,000
$170,516
$100,000
$1,705,158
$1,000,000
$17,051,583
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2015
Between 1939 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 4237.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 482.9%, against 1605.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.80%
$1,705
Medical care
5.09%
$4,337
Food
4.08%
$2,095
Transportation
3.53%
$1,392
Apparel
2.35%
$583
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 2015
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 1939–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$1,705
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $522 by
1979, on its way to $1,705 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,705; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2015: $100 is worth $1,705 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2015/