Value of a Dollar in 1940
Prices in 1940 were still below their 1920s level. The war years and the end of price controls changed that within a decade.
More optionsYear average → today (August 2026)
A month compares month to month, as BLS’s own calculator does.
Worth in
$1 in 1940 is worth
$23.93in August 2026
Prices rose 2292.7% in between, so $1 of 1940 goods costs $23.93 in August 2026.
The price of $1 of 1940 goods, year by year
- Total inflation
- +2292.7%
- Average a year
- 3.76%
- $1 of cash now buys
- $0.04 of 1940 goods
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice. Terms
How this works: Method, 7 sources,
How this works
Method
A dollar from 1940 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1940. For 1940 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works. Full method
Sources
- Federal Reserve History, The Fed’s role during WWII
- Federal Reserve History, The Treasury-Fed Accord
- BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0)
- BLS, CPI-U all items, seasonally adjusted (CUSR0000SA0)
- BLS, Consumer Price Index data
- BLS, Relative importance of CPI components, December 2025
- BLS, Average hourly earnings, total private (CES0500000003)
Limits
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice.
Changes
- First version: what a dollar is worth from 1913 to August 2026, your own inflation rate, whether a raise beat inflation, the current rate, the rate by year and 12 year pages.
$1 from 1940, worked out
The CPI-U averaged 14.0 in 1940 and 334.980 in August 2026. Divide the two: 334.980 ÷ 14.0 = 23.927, so $1 of 1940 goods costs $23.93 now. The same factor scales any amount: $100 in 1940 is $2,393 today, a total rise of 2293% or 3.76% a year over 86 years.
Prices through World War II
In 1940 the CPI averaged 14.0, still 19% below 1929. War changed that quickly: prices rose 5.0% in 1941 and 10.9% in 1942.
To keep rising prices from undermining the war effort, the government regulated prices and wages and rationed scarce goods. Under those controls inflation slowed to 1.7% in 1944 and 2.3% in 1945, even though the Fed was holding interest rates down to help finance the war and the money supply grew a great deal.
After the war, prices caught up. The Fed’s historians record CPI inflation of 17.6% from June 1946 to June 1947 and 9.5% in the year after; the annual average rose 8.3% in 1946 and 14.4% in 1947. By 1950, prices were 72% higher than in 1940, the largest rise in any decade until the 1970s.
- During World War II the government regulated prices and wages and rationed scarce commodities and consumer durables. Source: Federal Reserve History, The Fed’s role during WWII.
- CPI inflation was 17.6% from June 1946 to June 1947, and 9.5% from June 1947 to June 1948. Source: Federal Reserve History, The Treasury-Fed Accord.
- The CPI rose 72% from 1940 to 1950. Source: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0).
How the value of a dollar is worked out
A dollar from 1940 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1940. For 1940 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works.
The index is the CPI-U, all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted: the series BLS publishes back to 1913. It measures the prices urban consumers pay, so it says what a dollar buys, not what an investment earned.
value now = amount × CPI(August 2026) ÷ CPI(1940)
$1 from 1940 in later years
What $1 of 1940 goods cost in each later year (annual averages), with that year’s inflation; the last row is the latest month.
| Year | CPI-U | $1 from 1940 | Inflation that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 14.0 | $1 | +0.7% |
| 1950 | 24.1 | $1.72 | +1.3% |
| 1960 | 29.6 | $2.11 | +1.7% |
| 1970 | 38.8 | $2.77 | +5.7% |
| 1980 | 82.4 | $5.89 | +13.5% |
| 1990 | 130.7 | $9.34 | +5.4% |
| 2000 | 172.2 | $12.30 | +3.4% |
| 2010 | 218.056 | $15.58 | +1.6% |
| 2020 | 258.811 | $18.49 | +1.2% |
| 2025 | 321.943 | $23 | +2.6% |
Show all 11 rowsShow fewer
| August 2026 | 334.980 | $23.93 | +3.4% (12 months) |
Data: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0) · BLS, CPI-U all items, seasonally adjusted (CUSR0000SA0) · BLS, Consumer Price Index data · BLS, Relative importance of CPI components, December 2025 · BLS, Average hourly earnings, total private (CES0500000003). Inflation calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did prices jump after World War II?
During the war, the money supply grew while price controls and rationing held prices down. Once the war ended, prices rose to catch up, and the Fed was still committed to keeping interest rates low on government bonds, which limited what it could do.
Were there price controls in World War II?
Yes. The government set rules for the prices of goods and the wages of workers and rationed scarce goods such as consumer durables. Inflation was low in 1944 and 1945 while they lasted.
What was $100 from 1940 worth in 1950?
About $172.14. Most of that rise came in the war’s first two years and in 1946–47, after it ended.