$100 in 1945 is worth $1,294 in 2013,
because prices increased 1194.2% over that period, an average of
3.84% a year.
$100 in 1945 has
the same buying power as
$1,294
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1194.2%
Average inflation rate
3.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,294
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,194
CPI in 1945
18
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1945
2.27%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1945 → 2013
$1,294
$100 in 2013 → 1945
$7.73
What happened to prices between 1945 and 2013
Between 1945 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 18 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1194.2%, which works out to an average of
3.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1945 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2013: the 1945 dollar
lost 92.3% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 2013 at the same ratio, 12.94: $1,000 becomes
$12,942, and $10,000 becomes $129,421.
Amount in 1945
Value in 2013
$1.00
$12.94
$5.00
$64.71
$10.00
$129
$20.00
$259
$50.00
$647
$100
$1,294
$500
$6,471
$1,000
$12,942
$5,000
$64,710
$10,000
$129,421
$100,000
$1,294,206
$1,000,000
$12,942,056
Inflation by spending category, 1945–2013
Between 1945 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 3472.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 305.8%, against 1194.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1945
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1945 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.84%
$1,294
Medical care
5.40%
$3,573
Food
3.92%
$1,370
Transportation
3.92%
$1,367
Apparel
2.08%
$406
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 2013
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 1945–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,211
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,294
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1945
$100 from 1945 had already become $458 by
1980, on its way to $1,294 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1945 had the buying
power of $1,294; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1945 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,294 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1945-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1945 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1945-to-2013/