$100 in 1939 is worth $1,839 in 2019,
because prices increased 1739.3% over that period, an average of
3.71% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$1,839
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1739.3%
Average inflation rate
3.71% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,839
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,739
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1939 → 2019
$1,839
$100 in 2019 → 1939
$5.44
What happened to prices between 1939 and 2019
Between 1939 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1739.3%, which works out to an average of
3.71% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2019: the 1939 dollar
lost 94.6% of its purchasing power over
these 80 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 2019 at the same ratio, 18.39: $1,000 becomes
$18,393, and $10,000 becomes $183,926.
Amount in 1939
Value in 2019
$1.00
$18.39
$5.00
$91.96
$10.00
$184
$20.00
$368
$50.00
$920
$100
$1,839
$500
$9,196
$1,000
$18,393
$5,000
$91,963
$10,000
$183,926
$100,000
$1,839,259
$1,000,000
$18,392,590
Inflation by spending category, 1939–2019
Between 1939 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 4739.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 474.3%, against 1739.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.71%
$1,839
Medical care
4.97%
$4,839
Food
3.93%
$2,189
Transportation
3.42%
$1,469
Apparel
2.21%
$574
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 2019
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 1939–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,839
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $522 by
1979, on its way to $1,839 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $1,839; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,839 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-2019/