$100 in 1940 is worth $1,664 in 2013,
because prices increased 1564.0% over that period, an average of
3.93% a year.
$100 in 1940 has
the same buying power as
$1,664
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1564.0%
Average inflation rate
3.93% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,664
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,564
CPI in 1940
14
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1940
0.72%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1940 → 2013
$1,664
$100 in 2013 → 1940
$6.01
What happened to prices between 1940 and 2013
Between 1940 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 14 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1564.0%, which works out to an average of
3.93% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1940 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2013: the 1940 dollar
lost 94.0% of its purchasing power over
these 73 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 2013 at the same ratio, 16.64: $1,000 becomes
$16,640, and $10,000 becomes $166,398.
Amount in 1940
Value in 2013
$1.00
$16.64
$5.00
$83.20
$10.00
$166
$20.00
$333
$50.00
$832
$100
$1,664
$500
$8,320
$1,000
$16,640
$5,000
$83,199
$10,000
$166,398
$100,000
$1,663,979
$1,000,000
$16,639,786
Inflation by spending category, 1940–2013
Between 1940 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 3987.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 484.5%, against 1564.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1940
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1940 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.93%
$1,664
Medical care
5.21%
$4,088
Food
4.17%
$1,975
Transportation
3.81%
$1,531
Apparel
2.45%
$584
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 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1940–2013 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$589
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$934
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,230
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,558
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,664
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1940
$100 from 1940 had already become $384 by
1975, on its way to $1,664 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1940 had the buying
power of $1,664; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1940 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,664 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1940-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1940 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1940-to-2013/