$100 in 1936 is worth $117 in 1942,
because prices increased 17.3% over that period, an average of
2.69% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$117
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
17.3%
Average inflation rate
2.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$117
Price difference ($100 base)
$17.27
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1936 → 1942
$117
$100 in 1942 → 1936
$85.28
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1942
Between 1936 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 17.3%, which works out to an average of
2.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.85 buys in 1942: the 1936 dollar
lost 14.7% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1936, a third straight annual increase and part
of a slow, steady climb back from the 1933 trough, though
prices and the broader economy still had not fully recovered to their
pre-Depression levels. Voters delivered their verdict on that recovery in
November, reelecting Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican Alf Landon in one
of the most lopsided elections in U.S. history: Roosevelt carried 46 of 48
states and won the Electoral College 523 to 8, a broad public endorsement of
the New Deal. Public works kept advancing that year, too. Hoover Dam, one of
the era’s signature projects, had been dedicated in September 1935, but its
first generators did not begin sending electricity over transmission lines
to Los Angeles until October 1936, a milestone that showed how long even a
celebrated project took to reach full operation. Consumer prices ended the
year 40.4% above their 1913 level, still 18.7% below the
1929 peak, a gap that would keep narrowing until a sharp new recession
interrupted the recovery the following year. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
Every 1936 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 1.17: $1,000 becomes
$1,173, and $10,000 becomes $11,727.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1942
$1.00
$1.17
$5.00
$5.86
$10.00
$11.73
$20.00
$23.45
$50.00
$58.63
$100
$117
$500
$586
$1,000
$1,173
$5,000
$5,863
$10,000
$11,727
$100,000
$117,266
$1,000,000
$1,172,662
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1942
Between 1936 and 1942, apparel rose the most, up 27.1%, while medical care rose the least, up 4.9%, against 17.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.69%
$117
Apparel
4.08%
$127
Food
3.40%
$122
Transportation
1.89%
$112
Medical care
0.80%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1936: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1936 to 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.90% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1936, at end
1936–1940
0.18%
0.7%
$101
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$117
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $100 by
1939, on its way to $117 in 1942; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 10.9% in 1942, and prices fell 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1936 had the buying
power of $117; 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 1936 to 1942: $100 is worth $117 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1942/