$100 in 1944 is worth $672 in 1988,
because prices increased 572.2% over that period, an average of
4.43% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$672
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
572.2%
Average inflation rate
4.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$672
Price difference ($100 base)
$572
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1944 → 1988
$672
$100 in 1988 → 1944
$14.88
What happened to prices between 1944 and 1988
Between 1944 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 572.2%, which works out to an average of
4.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1988: the 1944 dollar
lost 85.1% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 1988 at the same ratio, 6.72: $1,000 becomes
$6,722, and $10,000 becomes $67,216.
Amount in 1944
Value in 1988
$1.00
$6.72
$5.00
$33.61
$10.00
$67.22
$20.00
$134
$50.00
$336
$100
$672
$500
$3,361
$1,000
$6,722
$5,000
$33,608
$10,000
$67,216
$100,000
$672,159
$1,000,000
$6,721,591
Inflation by spending category, 1944–1988
Between 1944 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 1094.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 287.2%, against 572.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.43%
$672
Medical care
5.80%
$1,195
Food
4.52%
$699
Transportation
4.47%
$684
Apparel
3.12%
$387
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–).
Decade by decade: 1944 to 1988
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 1944–1988 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1944, at end
1944–1950
5.38%
36.9%
$137
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$168
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$220
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$468
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$672
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $184 by
1966, on its way to $672 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $672; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 1988: $100 is worth $672 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-1988/