$100 in 1940 → $1,230 in 2000
US inflation from 1940 to 2000 — total 1130.0%.
Value in 2000
$1,230
Total change
+1130.0%
Annual (CAGR)
4.27%
Years
60
Step-by-step
- 1940 CPI-U: 14.0
- 1970 CPI-U: 38.8 ($277)
- 2000 CPI-U: 172.2
- Formula: $100 × (172.2 / 14.0) = $1,230
What $100 actually bought
Inflation as an abstract number is hard to grasp. Concrete price anchors for 1940 vs 2000 make the change tangible.
In 1940, $100 would have bought:
- ~3.4% of a median US home ($2,900)
- ~11.8% of a new car ($850)
- ~556 gallons of gas (at $0.18/gal)
- ~192 gallons of milk (at $0.52/gal)
- ~3333 first-class postage stamps (at 3¢ each)
- ~10.5% of one year of median household income ($956)
Pre-WWII economic recovery.
Price anchor changes (1940 → 2000)
| Item | 1940 | 2000 | Change | vs CPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median home | $2,900 | $119,600 | +4024% | +2894% |
| New car | $850 | $21,800 | +2465% | +1335% |
| Gallon of gas | $0.18 | $1.51 | +739% | -391% |
| Gallon of milk | $0.52 | $2.75 | +429% | -701% |
| First-class stamp | 3¢ | 33¢ | +1000% | -130% |
| Median HH income | $956 | $41,990 | +4292% | +3162% |
“vs CPI” shows how each category outpaced or trailed general inflation. Categories that beat CPI (homes, healthcare, college) felt more expensive than the headline number suggested. Categories that lagged (electronics, postage adjusted) felt cheaper.
Related
Common questions
- What is $100 in 1940 worth in 2000?
- About $1,230, an increase of 1130.0% over 60 years (roughly 4.27% per year). Calculation uses the BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U, series CUUR0000SA0), annual averages.
- Why does CPI-U sometimes feel lower than my actual cost of living?
- CPI-U is a national average across a fixed basket. Personal inflation can run higher if rent, healthcare or college tuition dominate your spending — those categories have risen faster than the headline index. CPI-U is the official benchmark used for Social Security COLAs and federal tax bracket adjustments.
- What does the CAGR figure mean?
- Compound annual growth rate: the smoothed yearly rate that turns $100 in 1940 into $1,230 in 2000 if inflation were constant. Useful for comparing decades that had very different inflation patterns (e.g., 1970s vs 2010s).
Full data sources and formulas: /sources.