$100 in 1941 is worth $211 in 1964,
because prices increased 110.9% over that period, an average of
3.30% a year.
$100 in 1941 has
the same buying power as
$211
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
110.9%
Average inflation rate
3.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$211
Price difference ($100 base)
$111
CPI in 1941
14.7
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1941 → 1964
$211
$100 in 1964 → 1941
$47.42
What happened to prices between 1941 and 1964
Between 1941 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.7 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 110.9%, which works out to an average of
3.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1941 bought what
$0.47 buys in 1964: the 1941 dollar
lost 52.6% of its purchasing power over
these 23 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.0% in 1941, up sharply from just 0.7% in
1940 and the fastest annual increase since 1920, as
rearmament and Lend-Lease production pushed demand well ahead of peacetime
supply even before the United States formally joined the war. Congress had
already tilted the country away from neutrality that March, passing the
Lend-Lease Act to arm Britain, and later the Soviet Union and other Allies,
without requiring immediate payment. That April, the government created the
Office of Price Administration to hold down the cost of civilian goods, the
start of a price-control system that would keep official inflation numbers
well below what wartime demand alone would have produced over the next four
years. Then, on December 7, Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor,
destroying much of the Pacific Fleet and killing more than 2,400 Americans.
Congress declared war on Japan the next day and on Germany and Italy three
days later, ending years of debate over whether the United States should
stay out of the conflict spreading across Europe and Asia. Consumer prices,
already up 48.5% from their 1913 level, would climb far
faster over the next two years as the economy converted fully to war
production. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at 30 cents an hour.
Every 1941 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 2.11: $1,000 becomes
$2,109, and $10,000 becomes $21,088.
Amount in 1941
Value in 1964
$1.00
$2.11
$5.00
$10.54
$10.00
$21.09
$20.00
$42.18
$50.00
$105
$100
$211
$500
$1,054
$1,000
$2,109
$5,000
$10,544
$10,000
$21,088
$100,000
$210,884
$1,000,000
$2,108,844
Inflation by spending category, 1941–1964
Between 1941 and 1964, food rose the most, up 140.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 107.5%, against 110.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1941
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1941 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.30%
$211
Food
3.89%
$240
Medical care
3.81%
$237
Transportation
3.35%
$214
Apparel
3.22%
$207
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1941: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1941 to 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.65% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.16% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1941–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1941, at end
1941–1950
5.65%
63.9%
$164
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$201
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$211
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1941
$100 from 1941 had already become $180 by
1952, on its way to $211 in 1964; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1941 had the buying
power of $211; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1941 to 1964: $100 is worth $211 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1941 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-1964/