$100 in 1945 is worth $1,196 in 2008,
because prices increased 1096.1% over that period, an average of
4.02% a year.
$100 in 1945 has
the same buying power as
$1,196
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1096.1%
Average inflation rate
4.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,196
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,096
CPI in 1945
18
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1945
2.27%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1945 → 2008
$1,196
$100 in 2008 → 1945
$8.36
What happened to prices between 1945 and 2008
Between 1945 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 18 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1096.1%, which works out to an average of
4.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1945 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2008: the 1945 dollar
lost 91.6% of its purchasing power over
these 63 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.3% in 1945, up from 1944’s 1.7% but
still modest, a rate that understated how much pressure had built up behind
wartime price and wage controls, which stayed largely in place even as the
conflict that justified them came to a close. The year opened with a shock
at home: Franklin Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, less
than three months into an unprecedented fourth term, and Vice President
Harry Truman was sworn in that same afternoon. The war Roosevelt had led for
nearly four years ended without him. Germany surrendered on May 8, and
Japan surrendered on August 15, after atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki that month, with the formal signing aboard the USS Missouri on
September 2. Domestic policy kept moving even as the guns fell silent: the
federal minimum wage rose to 40 cents an hour that October 24, the final
step of the schedule Congress had built into the 1938 Fair Labor Standards
Act, up from 30 cents in 1939 and 25 cents at the law’s start. Consumer
prices stood 81.8% above their 1913 level, a gain that would
look modest next to what followed once wartime controls actually came off.
First-class postage held at 3 cents.
Every 1945 amount converts to 2008 at the same ratio, 11.96: $1,000 becomes
$11,961, and $10,000 becomes $119,613.
Amount in 1945
Value in 2008
$1.00
$11.96
$5.00
$59.81
$10.00
$120
$20.00
$239
$50.00
$598
$100
$1,196
$500
$5,981
$1,000
$11,961
$5,000
$59,806
$10,000
$119,613
$100,000
$1,196,128
$1,000,000
$11,961,278
Inflation by spending category, 1945–2008
Between 1945 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 2959.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 278.7%, against 1096.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1945
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1945 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.02%
$1,196
Medical care
5.58%
$3,059
Food
4.07%
$1,238
Transportation
4.06%
$1,230
Apparel
2.14%
$379
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1945: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1945 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 1945–2008 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1945, at end
1945–1950
6.01%
33.9%
$134
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$164
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$216
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$458
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$726
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$957
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$1,196
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1945
$100 from 1945 had already become $299 by
1975, on its way to $1,196 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 1945 had the buying
power of $1,196; 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 1945 to 2008: $100 is worth $1,196 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1945-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1945 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1945-to-2008/