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.
Year in review
Inflation in 1944
The U.S. inflation rate in 1944 was 1.7% (CPI: 17.6). Convert 1944 dollars to today →
1.7% 1944 inflation rate
5.6% 1940s average
3.0% peak month (Jan)
0.0% lowest month (May)
What things cost in 1944
| First-class stamp | $0.03 |
|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage | $0.30 |
What $100 from 1944 was worth later
| In 1950 | $137 |
|---|---|
| In 1960 | $168 |
| In 1970 | $220 |
| In 1980 | $468 |
| In 1990 | $743 |
| In 2000 | $978 |
| In 2010 | $1,239 |
| In 2020 | $1,471 |
| In 2026 | $1,884 |
Inflation in 1944, month by month
| Month | CPI-U | 12-month rate |
|---|---|---|
| January | 17.4 | 3.0% |
| February | 17.4 | 3.0% |
| March | 17.4 | 1.2% |
| April | 17.5 | 0.6% |
| May | 17.5 | 0.0% |
| June | 17.6 | 0.6% |
| July | 17.7 | 1.7% |
| August | 17.7 | 2.3% |
| September | 17.7 | 1.7% |
| October | 17.7 | 1.7% |
| November | 17.7 | 1.7% |
| December | 17.8 | 2.3% |
Economic events of 1944
- Consumer prices rise 1.7%, the slowest wartime increase Price and wage controls held the cost of living nearly flat for a second straight year, even as the war reached its most intense and expensive phase.
- Allied forces land at Normandy on D-Day On June 6, more than 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, opening the long-awaited second front against Nazi Germany in Western Europe.
- Congress passes the GI Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act, signed June 22, gave returning veterans funding for college or vocational training, low-cost home and business loans, and unemployment benefits, reshaping postwar housing and higher education.
- Allied nations meet at Bretton Woods to design the postwar monetary system Delegates from 44 countries agreed that July to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, which was in turn pegged to gold, and created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to manage the new system.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index history; Federal Reserve History (wartime price and wage controls; Bretton Woods); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, history of the GI Bill.
Inflation figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages. See the methodology.