$100 in 1944 is worth $1,239 in 2010,
because prices increased 1139.0% over that period, an average of
3.89% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$1,239
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1139.0%
Average inflation rate
3.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,239
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,139
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1944 → 2010
$1,239
$100 in 2010 → 1944
$8.07
What happened to prices between 1944 and 2010
Between 1944 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1139.0%, which works out to an average of
3.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2010: the 1944 dollar
lost 91.9% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 2010 at the same ratio, 12.39: $1,000 becomes
$12,390, and $10,000 becomes $123,895.
Amount in 1944
Value in 2010
$1.00
$12.39
$5.00
$61.95
$10.00
$124
$20.00
$248
$50.00
$619
$100
$1,239
$500
$6,195
$1,000
$12,390
$5,000
$61,948
$10,000
$123,895
$100,000
$1,238,955
$1,000,000
$12,389,545
Inflation by spending category, 1944–2010
Between 1944 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 3248.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 301.0%, against 1139.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.89%
$1,239
Medical care
5.46%
$3,349
Food
3.96%
$1,300
Transportation
3.86%
$1,216
Apparel
2.13%
$401
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 2010
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 1944–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,239
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $412 by
1979, on its way to $1,239 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $1,239; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 2010: $100 is worth $1,239 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2010/