$100 in 1940 is worth $406 in 1976,
because prices increased 306.4% over that period, an average of
3.97% a year.
$100 in 1940 has
the same buying power as
$406
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
306.4%
Average inflation rate
3.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$406
Price difference ($100 base)
$306
CPI in 1940
14
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1940
0.72%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1940 → 1976
$406
$100 in 1976 → 1940
$24.60
What happened to prices between 1940 and 1976
Between 1940 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 14 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 306.4%, which works out to an average of
3.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1940 bought what
$0.25 buys in 1976: the 1940 dollar
lost 75.4% of its purchasing power over
these 36 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1940, snapping 1939’s decline
and marking the first increase since 1937. The gain was modest, and the CPI
still stood 18.1% below its 1929 peak, a reminder of how far
the recovery from the Depression’s trough had left to go even as defense
orders from Britain and France began reaching American factories. War was
already reshaping domestic policy well before it touched American soil.
Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act that September, the
country’s first peacetime draft, requiring men aged 21 to 35 to register and
authorizing the induction of up to 900,000 men a year, more than a year
before Pearl Harbor. That November, Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented
third term, defeating Republican Wendell Willkie after campaigning on
keeping the United States out of the war then consuming Europe and Asia. The
promise would not hold much longer: within two years, wartime demand would
push consumer prices up faster than at any point since the aftermath of
World War I. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the federal minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour, the level set the previous October under
the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Every 1940 amount converts to 1976 at the same ratio, 4.06: $1,000 becomes
$4,064, and $10,000 becomes $40,643.
Amount in 1940
Value in 1976
$1.00
$4.06
$5.00
$20.32
$10.00
$40.64
$20.00
$81.29
$50.00
$203
$100
$406
$500
$2,032
$1,000
$4,064
$5,000
$20,321
$10,000
$40,643
$100,000
$406,429
$1,000,000
$4,064,286
Inflation by spending category, 1940–1976
Between 1940 and 1976, food rose the most, up 413.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 245.0%, against 306.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1940
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1940 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.97%
$406
Food
4.65%
$513
Medical care
4.57%
$500
Transportation
3.84%
$388
Apparel
3.50%
$345
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1940: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1940 to 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1940–1976 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1940, at end
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$172
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$211
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$277
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$406
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1940
$100 from 1940 had already become $206 by
1958, on its way to $406 in 1976; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1940 had the buying
power of $406; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1940 to 1976: $100 is worth $406 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1940-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1940 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1940-to-1976/