$100 in 1944 is worth $1,347 in 2015,
because prices increased 1246.7% over that period, an average of
3.73% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$1,347
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1246.7%
Average inflation rate
3.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,347
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,247
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1944 → 2015
$1,347
$100 in 2015 → 1944
$7.43
What happened to prices between 1944 and 2015
Between 1944 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1246.7%, which works out to an average of
3.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2015: the 1944 dollar
lost 92.6% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 2015 at the same ratio, 13.47: $1,000 becomes
$13,467, and $10,000 becomes $134,669.
Amount in 1944
Value in 2015
$1.00
$13.47
$5.00
$67.33
$10.00
$135
$20.00
$269
$50.00
$673
$100
$1,347
$500
$6,733
$1,000
$13,467
$5,000
$67,334
$10,000
$134,669
$100,000
$1,346,687
$1,000,000
$13,466,875
Inflation by spending category, 1944–2015
Between 1944 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 3751.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 322.5%, against 1246.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.73%
$1,347
Medical care
5.28%
$3,851
Food
3.85%
$1,463
Transportation
3.62%
$1,252
Apparel
2.05%
$422
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 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1944–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$1,347
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $412 by
1979, on its way to $1,347 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $1,347; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 2015: $100 is worth $1,347 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2015/