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.
Year in review
Inflation in 1945
The U.S. inflation rate in 1945 was 2.3% (CPI: 18). Convert 1945 dollars to today →
2.3% 1945 inflation rate
5.6% 1940s average
2.8% peak month (Jun)
1.7% lowest month (Apr)
What things cost in 1945
| First-class stamp | $0.03 |
|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage | $0.40 |
What $100 from 1945 was worth later
| In 1950 | $134 |
|---|---|
| In 1960 | $164 |
| In 1970 | $216 |
| In 1980 | $458 |
| In 1990 | $726 |
| In 2000 | $957 |
| In 2010 | $1,211 |
| In 2020 | $1,438 |
| In 2026 | $1,843 |
Inflation in 1945, month by month
| Month | CPI-U | 12-month rate |
|---|---|---|
| January | 17.8 | 2.3% |
| February | 17.8 | 2.3% |
| March | 17.8 | 2.3% |
| April | 17.8 | 1.7% |
| May | 17.9 | 2.3% |
| June | 18.1 | 2.8% |
| July | 18.1 | 2.3% |
| August | 18.1 | 2.3% |
| September | 18.1 | 2.3% |
| October | 18.1 | 2.3% |
| November | 18.1 | 2.3% |
| December | 18.2 | 2.2% |
Economic events of 1945
- Consumer prices rise 2.3% as wartime controls hold even after fighting ends Price and wage ceilings stayed largely in place through the year, keeping official inflation low even as the war that had justified them came to a close.
- Roosevelt dies in office, and Truman becomes president Franklin Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, less than three months into his fourth term, and Vice President Harry Truman was sworn in the same day.
- World War II ends Germany surrendered on May 8, and Japan surrendered on August 15 after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that month, formally ending the war aboard the USS Missouri on September 2.
- The federal minimum wage rises to 40 cents an hour The increase, effective October 24, completed the schedule set by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which had raised the wage floor in stages from 25 cents in 1938 to 30 cents in 1939 and now to 40 cents.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index history; National Archives (Roosevelt's death; Japanese surrender); U.S. Department of Labor, history of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Inflation figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages. See the methodology.