$100 in 1943 is worth $139 in 1950,
because prices increased 39.3% over that period, an average of
4.85% a year.
$100 in 1943 has
the same buying power as
$139
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
39.3%
Average inflation rate
4.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$139
Price difference ($100 base)
$39.31
CPI in 1943
17.3
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1943
6.13%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1943 → 1950
$139
$100 in 1950 → 1943
$71.78
What happened to prices between 1943 and 1950
Between 1943 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 39.3%, which works out to an average of
4.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1943 bought what
$0.72 buys in 1950: the 1943 dollar
lost 28.2% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
Consumer prices rose 6.1% in 1943, a slower pace than 1942’s
surge but still well above anything the country had seen before the war.
The slowdown owed largely to the “Hold the Line” order, issued that April,
which froze most wages, prices, and rents at their current levels after the
previous year’s jump showed how far demand had outrun the existing
controls. Rationing grew more sophisticated alongside the freeze: starting
in February, a points system split scarce goods into red points for meat,
butter, and other fats and blue points for canned and processed foods,
letting households budget across categories instead of simply going without
once a flat quota ran dry. The government also changed how it collected the
taxes paying for all of it. The Current Tax Payment Act, signed June 9,
required employers to withhold federal income tax directly from paychecks
for the first time, smoothing the flow of wartime revenue and creating the
pay-as-you-go system still used today. Consumer prices stood 74.7% above
their 1913 level and 33.1% above 1933’s
Depression-era low. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
Every 1943 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.39: $1,000 becomes
$1,393, and $10,000 becomes $13,931.
Amount in 1943
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.39
$5.00
$6.97
$10.00
$13.93
$20.00
$27.86
$50.00
$69.65
$100
$139
$500
$697
$1,000
$1,393
$5,000
$6,965
$10,000
$13,931
$100,000
$139,306
$1,000,000
$1,393,064
Inflation by spending category, 1943–1950
Between 1943 and 1950, food rose the most, up 48.5%, while medical care rose the least, up 34.8%, against 39.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1943
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1943 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.85%
$139
Food
5.82%
$149
Apparel
5.45%
$145
Transportation
5.22%
$143
Medical care
4.36%
$135
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1943: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1943
$100 from 1943 had already become $113 by
1946, on its way to $139 in 1950; 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.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1943 had the buying
power of $139; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1943 to 1950: $100 is worth $139 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1943-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1943 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1943-to-1950/