$100 in 1944 is worth $1,364 in 2016,
because prices increased 1263.7% over that period, an average of
3.70% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$1,364
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1263.7%
Average inflation rate
3.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,364
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,264
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1944 → 2016
$1,364
$100 in 2016 → 1944
$7.33
What happened to prices between 1944 and 2016
Between 1944 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1263.7%, which works out to an average of
3.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2016: the 1944 dollar
lost 92.7% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 2016 at the same ratio, 13.64: $1,000 becomes
$13,637, and $10,000 becomes $136,368.
Amount in 1944
Value in 2016
$1.00
$13.64
$5.00
$68.18
$10.00
$136
$20.00
$273
$50.00
$682
$100
$1,364
$500
$6,818
$1,000
$13,637
$5,000
$68,184
$10,000
$136,368
$100,000
$1,363,676
$1,000,000
$13,636,761
Inflation by spending category, 1944–2016
Between 1944 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 3897.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 323.0%, against 1263.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.70%
$1,364
Medical care
5.26%
$3,997
Food
3.80%
$1,467
Transportation
3.54%
$1,226
Apparel
2.02%
$423
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 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1944–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,364
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $412 by
1979, on its way to $1,364 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1944 had the buying
power of $1,364; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1944 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,364 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-2016/