$100 in 1916 is worth $150 in 1942,
because prices increased 49.5% over that period, an average of
1.56% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$150
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
49.5%
Average inflation rate
1.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$150
Price difference ($100 base)
$49.54
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1916 → 1942
$150
$100 in 1942 → 1916
$66.87
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1942
Between 1916 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 49.5%, which works out to an average of
1.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.67 buys in 1942: the 1916 dollar
lost 33.1% of its purchasing power over
these 26 years.
1916 was when World War I first showed up clearly in American price tags.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% for the year, easily the sharpest increase since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI history begins in 1913, as factories ran
flat out to fill steel, munitions, and food orders from Britain and France.
Railroad workers felt the squeeze from rising living costs enough to threaten
a nationwide strike; Congress headed it off in September with the Adamson
Act, which set an eight-hour standard workday for interstate rail employees,
the first federal law of its kind covering private-sector hours. Washington
was also preparing more directly for war: the National Defense Act, signed
in June, expanded the Army and National Guard and funded new
government-owned munitions plants, adding another source of demand to an
economy already running hot. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in November
largely on having kept the country out of the fighting so far, a promise
that would not survive the following spring. A first-class stamp still cost
2 cents, one of the few prices that had not yet moved.
Every 1916 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 1.50: $1,000 becomes
$1,495, and $10,000 becomes $14,954.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1942
$1.00
$1.50
$5.00
$7.48
$10.00
$14.95
$20.00
$29.91
$50.00
$74.77
$100
$150
$500
$748
$1,000
$1,495
$5,000
$7,477
$10,000
$14,954
$100,000
$149,541
$1,000,000
$1,495,413
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1942
Between 1916 and 1942, apparel rose the most, up 58.9%, while food rose the least, up 36.3%, against 49.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.56%
$150
Apparel
1.80%
$159
Food
1.20%
$136
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1916: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1916 to 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$153
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$128
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$150
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $157 by
1929, on its way to $150 in 1942; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $150; the year's average CPI of 16.3 is the level
behind every 1942 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 10.9% in 1942, up from 1941’s already
rapid 5.0% and the fastest increase since 1920, as the economy’s crash
conversion to war production collided with shrinking supplies of civilian
goods. The government tried to contain it: the General Maximum Price
Regulation, effective May 18 and known as “General Max,” froze most retail
prices at their highest March level, the broadest price control Washington
had ever attempted. Rationing followed close behind. Sugar rationing began
that May and gasoline rationing went nationwide in December, the leading
edge of a system that would eventually cover meat, coffee, shoes, tires, and
dozens of other goods before the war ended. The year’s other defining
wartime measure had nothing to do with prices. Executive Order 9066, signed
February 19, authorized the military to remove more than 110,000 Japanese
Americans, most of them U.S. citizens, from the West Coast and hold them in
inland internment camps for the war’s duration, one of the era’s starkest
violations of civil liberties. Even with price controls in place, consumer
prices climbed more than 10% for the first time since 1920, leaving the CPI
64.6% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at 3
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 1942: $100 is worth $150 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1942/