£100 in 1938 is worth £9,456 today
What pounds from 1938 are worth in 2025 money, adjusted for inflation with the official price index from the UK Office for National Statistics.
1938 money in 2025 money
- Prices since
- +9356.0%
- Per year
- +5.37% compounded
- Multiplier
- ×94.560
| In 1938 | Worth in 2025 |
|---|---|
| £1 | £94.56 |
| £5 | £473 |
| £10 | £946 |
| £20 | £1,891 |
| £50 | £4,728 |
| £100 | £9,456 |
| £1,000 | £94,560 |
| £10,000 | £945,595 |
UK Office for National Statistics — Retail Prices Index: long run series, Jan 1974 = 100. Retrieved 2026-08-06. Open in the calculator to compare any two years.
Inflation in 1938
Prices in the UK rose 1.2% during 1938 — close to the middle of the range in this series, 125th highest of 225. Across the 1930s, prices fell an average of 0.3% a year, peaking at 3.8% in 1937.
| Year | Rate | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | −2.8% | |
| 1931 | −4.0% | |
| 1932 | −2.4% | |
| 1933 | −2.5% | |
| 1934 | 0.0% | |
| 1935 | +0.6% | |
| 1936 | +0.6% | |
| 1937 | +3.8% | |
| 1938 | +1.2% | |
| 1939 | +3.0% |
How far the pound has fallen since 1938
A pound in 2025 buys about 1.1% of what one bought in 1938, a loss of 98.9% of its buying power. Prices had doubled from their 1938 level by 1951, 13 years later. Read the other way, here is what today's money would have been in 1938:
| In 2025 | Same as, in 1938 |
|---|---|
| £10 | £0.11 |
| £20 | £0.21 |
| £50 | £0.53 |
| £100 | £1.06 |
| £1,000 | £10.58 |
| £10,000 | £106 |
What these numbers can and cannot tell you
The figures compare the price index in 1938 with 2025: the cost of the same broad basket of goods and services, averaged across each year. That is the right measure for "what would this amount be in today's money" — a wage, a price, an inheritance. It is not a measure of what any particular thing cost: housing, education, and healthcare have mostly risen faster than the average, while electronics and clothing have risen far slower or fallen. And it says nothing about exchange rates, so it cannot turn 1938 pounds into another currency.
Common questions
How much is £100 from 1938 worth today?
£100 in 1938 is worth about £9,456 in 2025 money, adjusted with the official price index published by the UK Office for National Statistics. Prices have risen 9,356.0% over that span, an average of 5.37% a year compounded.
What was the inflation rate in 1938?
Prices in the UK rose 1.2% during 1938 — close to the middle of the range in this series, 125th highest of 225. That is the change in the annual average of the index from 1937 to 1938, which is the basis statistics agencies use for long-run comparison; a news headline quoting a twelve-month change at a particular point in 1938 may differ.
How much buying power has the pound lost since 1938?
About 98.9%. Put the other way round, £100 in 2025 would have bought what £1.06 bought in 1938. Prices had doubled from their 1938 level by 1951, 13 years later.
1938 in other countries: United States , Canada .