$100 in 1944 is worth $1,223 in 2008,
because prices increased 1123.3% over that period, an average of
3.99% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$1,223
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1123.3%
Average inflation rate
3.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,223
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,123
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1944 → 2008
$1,223
$100 in 2008 → 1944
$8.17
What happened to prices between 1944 and 2008
Between 1944 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1123.3%, which works out to an average of
3.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2008: the 1944 dollar
lost 91.8% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 2008 at the same ratio, 12.23: $1,000 becomes
$12,233, and $10,000 becomes $122,331.
Amount in 1944
Value in 2008
$1.00
$12.23
$5.00
$61.17
$10.00
$122
$20.00
$245
$50.00
$612
$100
$1,223
$500
$6,117
$1,000
$12,233
$5,000
$61,166
$10,000
$122,331
$100,000
$1,223,313
$1,000,000
$12,233,125
Inflation by spending category, 1944–2008
Between 1944 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 3038.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 299.0%, against 1123.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.99%
$1,223
Medical care
5.53%
$3,138
Food
4.05%
$1,267
Transportation
4.00%
$1,230
Apparel
2.19%
$399
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 2008
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 1944–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,223
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $280 by
1974, on its way to $1,223 in 2008; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $1,223; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,223 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2008/