$100 in 1941 is worth $1,465 in 2008,
because prices increased 1364.6% over that period, an average of
4.09% a year.
$100 in 1941 has
the same buying power as
$1,465
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1364.6%
Average inflation rate
4.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,465
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,365
CPI in 1941
14.7
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1941 → 2008
$1,465
$100 in 2008 → 1941
$6.83
What happened to prices between 1941 and 2008
Between 1941 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.7 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1364.6%, which works out to an average of
4.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1941 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2008: the 1941 dollar
lost 93.2% of its purchasing power over
these 67 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.0% in 1941, up sharply from just 0.7% in
1940 and the fastest annual increase since 1920, as
rearmament and Lend-Lease production pushed demand well ahead of peacetime
supply even before the United States formally joined the war. Congress had
already tilted the country away from neutrality that March, passing the
Lend-Lease Act to arm Britain, and later the Soviet Union and other Allies,
without requiring immediate payment. That April, the government created the
Office of Price Administration to hold down the cost of civilian goods, the
start of a price-control system that would keep official inflation numbers
well below what wartime demand alone would have produced over the next four
years. Then, on December 7, Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor,
destroying much of the Pacific Fleet and killing more than 2,400 Americans.
Congress declared war on Japan the next day and on Germany and Italy three
days later, ending years of debate over whether the United States should
stay out of the conflict spreading across Europe and Asia. Consumer prices,
already up 48.5% from their 1913 level, would climb far
faster over the next two years as the economy converted fully to war
production. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at 30 cents an hour.
Every 1941 amount converts to 2008 at the same ratio, 14.65: $1,000 becomes
$14,646, and $10,000 becomes $146,465.
Amount in 1941
Value in 2008
$1.00
$14.65
$5.00
$73.23
$10.00
$146
$20.00
$293
$50.00
$732
$100
$1,465
$500
$7,323
$1,000
$14,646
$5,000
$73,232
$10,000
$146,465
$100,000
$1,464,646
$1,000,000
$14,646,463
Inflation by spending category, 1941–2008
Between 1941 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 3400.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 421.5%, against 1364.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1941
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1941 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.09%
$1,465
Medical care
5.45%
$3,501
Food
4.26%
$1,634
Transportation
3.94%
$1,330
Apparel
2.50%
$522
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1941: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1941 to 2008
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 1941–2008 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1941, at end
1941–1950
5.65%
63.9%
$164
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$201
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$264
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$561
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$889
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,171
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,465
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1941
$100 from 1941 had already become $387 by
1976, on its way to $1,465 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1941 had the buying
power of $1,465; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1941 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,465 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1941 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-2008/