$100 in 1944 is worth $137 in 1950,
because prices increased 36.9% over that period, an average of
5.38% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$137
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
36.9%
Average inflation rate
5.38% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$137
Price difference ($100 base)
$36.93
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1944 → 1950
$137
$100 in 1950 → 1944
$73.03
What happened to prices between 1944 and 1950
Between 1944 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 36.9%, which works out to an average of
5.38% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1950: the 1944 dollar
lost 27.0% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
Consumer prices rose just 1.7% in 1944, down from 1943’s
6.1% and the slowest increase of the war years, as price and wage controls
held the cost of living nearly flat even as the conflict reached its most
expensive phase. The war itself turned decisively that June, when more than
150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, opening the
long-planned second front against Nazi Germany. Congress used the same
month to plan for the war’s end, passing the GI Bill on June 22 to give
returning veterans money for college or vocational training, low-cost home
and business loans, and unemployment benefits, a package that would reshape
American housing and higher education for a generation. The following
month, delegates from 44 Allied nations gathered at Bretton Woods, New
Hampshire, and agreed to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, itself
pegged to gold, creating the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
to manage the new system. Consumer prices stood 77.8% above their
1913 level, a cumulative wartime rise held down by controls
that would start unwinding the following year. First-class postage held at
3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
Every 1944 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.37: $1,000 becomes
$1,369, and $10,000 becomes $13,693.
Amount in 1944
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.37
$5.00
$6.85
$10.00
$13.69
$20.00
$27.39
$50.00
$68.47
$100
$137
$500
$685
$1,000
$1,369
$5,000
$6,847
$10,000
$13,693
$100,000
$136,932
$1,000,000
$1,369,318
Inflation by spending category, 1944–1950
Between 1944 and 1950, food rose the most, up 50.3%, while medical care rose the least, up 30.2%, against 36.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.38%
$137
Food
7.03%
$150
Transportation
6.11%
$143
Apparel
5.16%
$135
Medical care
4.49%
$130
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1944: 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 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $127 by
1947, on its way to $137 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 1944 had the buying
power of $137; 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 1944 to 1950: $100 is worth $137 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-1950/