$100 in 1944 is worth $1,006 in 2001,
because prices increased 906.2% over that period, an average of
4.13% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$1,006
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
906.2%
Average inflation rate
4.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,006
Price difference ($100 base)
$906
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1944 → 2001
$1,006
$100 in 2001 → 1944
$9.94
What happened to prices between 1944 and 2001
Between 1944 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 906.2%, which works out to an average of
4.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2001: the 1944 dollar
lost 90.1% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 2001 at the same ratio, 10.06: $1,000 becomes
$10,062, and $10,000 becomes $100,625.
Amount in 1944
Value in 2001
$1.00
$10.06
$5.00
$50.31
$10.00
$101
$20.00
$201
$50.00
$503
$100
$1,006
$500
$5,031
$1,000
$10,062
$5,000
$50,312
$10,000
$100,625
$100,000
$1,006,250
$1,000,000
$10,062,500
Inflation by spending category, 1944–2001
Between 1944 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 2251.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 327.2%, against 906.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.13%
$1,006
Medical care
5.70%
$2,352
Food
4.17%
$1,024
Transportation
4.07%
$970
Apparel
2.58%
$427
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 2001
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 1944–2001 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$743
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$978
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,006
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $237 by
1972, on its way to $1,006 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $1,006; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,006 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2001/