$100 in 1944 is worth $1,345 in 2014,
because prices increased 1245.1% over that period, an average of
3.78% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$1,345
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1245.1%
Average inflation rate
3.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,345
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,245
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1944 → 2014
$1,345
$100 in 2014 → 1944
$7.43
What happened to prices between 1944 and 2014
Between 1944 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1245.1%, which works out to an average of
3.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2014: the 1944 dollar
lost 92.6% of its purchasing power over
these 70 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 2014 at the same ratio, 13.45: $1,000 becomes
$13,451, and $10,000 becomes $134,509.
Amount in 1944
Value in 2014
$1.00
$13.45
$5.00
$67.25
$10.00
$135
$20.00
$269
$50.00
$673
$100
$1,345
$500
$6,725
$1,000
$13,451
$5,000
$67,255
$10,000
$134,509
$100,000
$1,345,091
$1,000,000
$13,450,909
Inflation by spending category, 1944–2014
Between 1944 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 3652.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 327.9%, against 1245.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.78%
$1,345
Medical care
5.32%
$3,753
Food
3.88%
$1,436
Transportation
3.80%
$1,358
Apparel
2.10%
$428
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 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1944–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,345
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $412 by
1979, on its way to $1,345 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $1,345; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,345 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2014/