$100 in 1941 is worth $220 in 1966,
because prices increased 120.4% over that period, an average of
3.21% a year.
$100 in 1941 has
the same buying power as
$220
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
120.4%
Average inflation rate
3.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$220
Price difference ($100 base)
$120
CPI in 1941
14.7
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1941 → 1966
$220
$100 in 1966 → 1941
$45.37
What happened to prices between 1941 and 1966
Between 1941 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.7 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 120.4%, which works out to an average of
3.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1941 bought what
$0.45 buys in 1966: the 1941 dollar
lost 54.6% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1966 at the same ratio, 2.20: $1,000 becomes
$2,204, and $10,000 becomes $22,041.
Amount in 1941
Value in 1966
$1.00
$2.20
$5.00
$11.02
$10.00
$22.04
$20.00
$44.08
$50.00
$110
$100
$220
$500
$1,102
$1,000
$2,204
$5,000
$11,020
$10,000
$22,041
$100,000
$220,408
$1,000,000
$2,204,082
Inflation by spending category, 1941–1966
Between 1941 and 1966, food rose the most, up 158.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 114.9%, against 120.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1941
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1941 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.21%
$220
Food
3.86%
$258
Medical care
3.78%
$253
Transportation
3.20%
$220
Apparel
3.11%
$215
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 1966
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.65% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.52% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1941–1966 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
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$220
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1941
$100 from 1941 had already become $182 by
1953, on its way to $220 in 1966; 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 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1941 had the buying
power of $220; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1941 to 1966: $100 is worth $220 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1941 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-1966/