$100 in 1944 is worth $1,022 in 2002,
because prices increased 922.2% over that period, an average of
4.09% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$1,022
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
922.2%
Average inflation rate
4.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,022
Price difference ($100 base)
$922
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1944 → 2002
$1,022
$100 in 2002 → 1944
$9.78
What happened to prices between 1944 and 2002
Between 1944 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 922.2%, which works out to an average of
4.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2002: the 1944 dollar
lost 90.2% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 2002 at the same ratio, 10.22: $1,000 becomes
$10,222, and $10,000 becomes $102,216.
Amount in 1944
Value in 2002
$1.00
$10.22
$5.00
$51.11
$10.00
$102
$20.00
$204
$50.00
$511
$100
$1,022
$500
$5,111
$1,000
$10,222
$5,000
$51,108
$10,000
$102,216
$100,000
$1,022,159
$1,000,000
$10,221,591
Inflation by spending category, 1944–2002
Between 1944 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 2362.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 316.1%, against 922.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.09%
$1,022
Medical care
5.68%
$2,462
Food
4.12%
$1,043
Transportation
3.98%
$962
Apparel
2.49%
$416
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 2002
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 1944–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$1,022
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $237 by
1972, on its way to $1,022 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $1,022; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 2002: $100 is worth $1,022 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2002/