$100 in 1941 is worth $1,205 in 2001,
because prices increased 1104.8% over that period, an average of
4.24% a year.
$100 in 1941 has
the same buying power as
$1,205
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1104.8%
Average inflation rate
4.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,205
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,105
CPI in 1941
14.7
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1941 → 2001
$1,205
$100 in 2001 → 1941
$8.30
What happened to prices between 1941 and 2001
Between 1941 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.7 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1104.8%, which works out to an average of
4.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1941 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2001: the 1941 dollar
lost 91.7% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 2001 at the same ratio, 12.05: $1,000 becomes
$12,048, and $10,000 becomes $120,476.
Amount in 1941
Value in 2001
$1.00
$12.05
$5.00
$60.24
$10.00
$120
$20.00
$241
$50.00
$602
$100
$1,205
$500
$6,024
$1,000
$12,048
$5,000
$60,238
$10,000
$120,476
$100,000
$1,204,762
$1,000,000
$12,047,619
Inflation by spending category, 1941–2001
Between 1941 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 2523.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 458.3%, against 1104.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1941
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1941 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.24%
$1,205
Medical care
5.60%
$2,623
Food
4.40%
$1,321
Transportation
4.00%
$1,050
Apparel
2.91%
$558
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 2001
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1941–2001 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$264
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$561
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$889
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,171
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,205
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1941
$100 from 1941 had already become $276 by
1971, on its way to $1,205 in 2001; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1941 had the buying
power of $1,205; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1941 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,205 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1941 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-2001/