$1 in 1940 is worth $1.72 in 1950

Value of $1 from 1940 to 1950

$1 in 1940 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1.72 in 1950, an increase of $0.72 over 10 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 5.58% per year between 1940 and 1950, producing a cumulative price increase of 72.14%.

This means that prices in 1950 are 1.72 times as high as average prices since 1940, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index.

The inflation rate in 1940 was 0.72%. The inflation rate in 1950 was 1.26%. The 1950 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 3.51% per year between 1950 and 2024.


Inflation from 1940 to 1950
Cumulative price change72.14%
Average inflation rate5.58%
Converted amount
$1 base
$1.72
Price difference
$1 base
$0.72
CPI in 194014.000
CPI in 195024.100
Inflation in 19400.72%
Inflation in 19501.26%
$1 in 1940$1.72 in 1950

USD inflation since 1940
Annual Rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of $1 in 1940

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for $1 in 1940 (price index tracking began in 1635).

For example, if you started with $1, you would need to end with $1.72 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When $1 is equivalent to $1.72 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single U.S. dollar decreases over time. In other words, a dollar will pay for fewer items at the store.

This effect explains how inflation erodes the value of a dollar over time. By calculating the value in 1940 dollars, the chart below shows how $1 is worth less over 10 years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, each of these USD amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

Dollar inflation: 1940-1950
YearDollar ValueInflation Rate
1940$1.000.72%
1941$1.055.00%
1942$1.1610.88%
1943$1.246.13%
1944$1.261.73%
1945$1.292.27%
1946$1.398.33%
1947$1.5914.36%
1948$1.728.07%
1949$1.70-1.24%
1950$1.721.26%
1951$1.867.88%
1952$1.891.92%
1953$1.910.75%
1954$1.920.75%
1955$1.91-0.37%
1956$1.941.49%
1957$2.013.31%
1958$2.062.85%
1959$2.080.69%
1960$2.111.72%
1961$2.141.01%
1962$2.161.00%
1963$2.191.32%
1964$2.211.31%
1965$2.251.61%
1966$2.312.86%
1967$2.393.09%
1968$2.494.19%
1969$2.625.46%
1970$2.775.72%
1971$2.894.38%
1972$2.993.21%
1973$3.176.22%
1974$3.5211.04%
1975$3.849.13%
1976$4.065.76%
1977$4.336.50%
1978$4.667.59%
1979$5.1911.35%
1980$5.8913.50%
1981$6.4910.32%
1982$6.896.16%
1983$7.113.21%
1984$7.424.32%
1985$7.693.56%
1986$7.831.86%
1987$8.113.65%
1988$8.454.14%
1989$8.864.82%
1990$9.345.40%
1991$9.734.21%
1992$10.023.01%
1993$10.322.99%
1994$10.592.56%
1995$10.892.83%
1996$11.212.95%
1997$11.462.29%
1998$11.641.56%
1999$11.902.21%
2000$12.303.36%
2001$12.652.85%
2002$12.851.58%
2003$13.142.28%
2004$13.492.66%
2005$13.953.39%
2006$14.403.23%
2007$14.812.85%
2008$15.383.84%
2009$15.32-0.36%
2010$15.581.64%
2011$16.073.16%
2012$16.402.07%
2013$16.641.46%
2014$16.911.62%
2015$16.930.12%
2016$17.141.26%
2017$17.512.13%
2018$17.952.49%
2019$18.261.76%
2020$18.491.23%
2021$19.364.70%
2022$20.908.00%
2023$21.764.12%
2024$22.171.85%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 4 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1940 amounts in 1950 dollars, based on the 72.14% change in prices:

Conversion: 1940 dollars in 1950
Initial valueEquivalent value
$1 dollar in 1940$1.72 dollars in 1950
$5 dollars in 1940$8.61 dollars in 1950
$10 dollars in 1940$17.21 dollars in 1950
$50 dollars in 1940$86.07 dollars in 1950
$100 dollars in 1940$172.14 dollars in 1950
$500 dollars in 1940$860.71 dollars in 1950
$1,000 dollars in 1940$1,721.43 dollars in 1950
$5,000 dollars in 1940$8,607.14 dollars in 1950
$10,000 dollars in 1940$17,214.29 dollars in 1950
$50,000 dollars in 1940$86,071.43 dollars in 1950
$100,000 dollars in 1940$172,142.86 dollars in 1950
$500,000 dollars in 1940$860,714.29 dollars in 1950
$1,000,000 dollars in 1940$1,721,428.57 dollars in 1950

Inflation by City

Inflation can vary widely by city, even within the United States. Here's how some cities fared in 1940 to 1950 (figures shown are purchasing power equivalents of $1):

Houston, Texas experienced the highest rate of inflation during the 10 years between 1940 and 1950 (5.85%).

New York experienced the lowest rate of inflation during the 10 years between 1940 and 1950 (5.29%).

Note that some locations showing 0% inflation may have not yet reported latest data.


Inflation by Country

Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £1.00 in 1940 would be equivalent to £1.63 in 1950, an absolute change of £0.63 and a cumulative change of 63.37%.

In Canada, CA$1.00 in 1940 would be equivalent to CA$1.57 in 1950, an absolute change of CA$0.57 and a cumulative change of 56.53%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $0.72 and total percent change of 72.14%.


Inflation by Spending Category

CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. Breaking down these categories helps explain the main drivers behind price changes.

This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1940 and 1950.

Compare these values to the overall average of 5.58% per year:

CategoryAvg Inflation (%)Total Inflation (%)$1 in 1940 → 1950
Food and beverages0.000.001.00
Housing0.000.001.00
Apparel6.3384.671.85
Transportation4.7859.531.60
Medical care3.8545.901.46
Recreation0.000.001.00
Education and communication0.000.001.00
Other goods and services0.000.001.00

The graph below compares inflation in categories of goods over time. Click on a category such as "Food" to toggle it on or off:

For all these visualizations, it's important to note that not all categories may have been tracked since 1940. This table and charts use the earliest available data for each category.



How to calculate inflation rate for $1, 1940 to 1950

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1940 and 1950:

CPI in 1950 CPI in 1940
×
1940 USD value
=
1950 USD value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.S. CPI was 14 in the year 1940 and 24.1 in 1950:

24.114
×
$1
=
$1.72

$1 in 1940 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $1.72 in 1950.

To get the total inflation rate for the 10 years between 1940 and 1950, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1950 - CPI in 1940CPI in 1940
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (10 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

24.1 - 1414
×
100
=
72%

Comparison to S&P 500 Index

The average inflation rate of 5.58% has a compounding effect between 1940 and 1950. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 72.14% over 10 years.

To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $1 in the S&P 500 index in 1940, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $3.24 in 1950. This is a return on investment of 223.99%, with an absolute return of $2.24 on top of the original $1.

These numbers are not inflation adjusted, so they are considered nominal. In order to evaluate the real return on our investment, we must calculate the return with inflation taken into account.

The compounding effect of inflation would account for 41.91% of returns ($1.36) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $1 investment is $0.88. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $1 for most people.

Investment in S&P 500 Index, 1940-1950
Original AmountFinal AmountChange
Nominal$1$3.24223.99%
Real
Inflation Adjusted
$1$1.8888.21%

Information displayed above may differ slightly from other S&P 500 calculators. Minor discrepancies can occur because we use the latest CPI data for inflation, annualized inflation numbers for previous years, and we compute S&P price and dividends from January of 1940 to latest available data for 1950 using average monthly close price.

For more details on the S&P 500 between 1940 and 1950, see the stock market returns calculator.


Data source & citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (CPI), established in 1913. Price index data from 1774 to 1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University and from the American Antiquarian Society. Price index data from 1634 to 1773 is from the American Antiquarian Society, using British pound equivalents.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page: “$1 in 1940 → 1950 | Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 28 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1940-dollars-in-1950?amount=1.

Special thanks to QuickChart for their chart image API, which is used for chart downloads.

in2013dollars.com is a reference website maintained by the Official Data Foundation.


Ian Webster

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

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» Read more about inflation and investment.

Inflation from 1940 to 1950
Cumulative price change72.14%
Average inflation rate5.58%
Converted amount
$1 base
$1.72
Price difference
$1 base
$0.72
CPI in 194014.000
CPI in 195024.100
Inflation in 19400.72%
Inflation in 19501.26%
$1 in 1940$1.72 in 1950