$100 in 1939 is worth $1,727 in 2016,
because prices increased 1626.7% over that period, an average of
3.77% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,727
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1626.7%
Average inflation rate
3.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,727
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,627
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1939 → 2016
$1,727
$100 in 2016 → 1939
$5.79
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2016
Between 1939 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1626.7%, which works out to an average of
3.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2016: the 1939 dollar
lost 94.2% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 2016 at the same ratio, 17.27: $1,000 becomes
$17,267, and $10,000 becomes $172,667.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2016
$1.00
$17.27
$5.00
$86.33
$10.00
$173
$20.00
$345
$50.00
$863
$100
$1,727
$500
$8,633
$1,000
$17,267
$5,000
$86,333
$10,000
$172,667
$100,000
$1,726,669
$1,000,000
$17,266,691
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2016
Between 1939 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 4401.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 483.5%, against 1626.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.77%
$1,727
Medical care
5.07%
$4,502
Food
4.03%
$2,101
Transportation
3.45%
$1,363
Apparel
2.32%
$584
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 2016
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 1939–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,727
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $522 by
1979, on its way to $1,727 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,727; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,727 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2016/