$100 in 1941 is worth $1,585 in 2013,
because prices increased 1484.7% over that period, an average of
3.91% a year.
$100 in 1941 has
the same buying power as
$1,585
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1484.7%
Average inflation rate
3.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,585
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,485
CPI in 1941
14.7
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1941 → 2013
$1,585
$100 in 2013 → 1941
$6.31
What happened to prices between 1941 and 2013
Between 1941 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.7 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1484.7%, which works out to an average of
3.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1941 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2013: the 1941 dollar
lost 93.7% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 2013 at the same ratio, 15.85: $1,000 becomes
$15,847, and $10,000 becomes $158,474.
Amount in 1941
Value in 2013
$1.00
$15.85
$5.00
$79.24
$10.00
$158
$20.00
$317
$50.00
$792
$100
$1,585
$500
$7,924
$1,000
$15,847
$5,000
$79,237
$10,000
$158,474
$100,000
$1,584,741
$1,000,000
$15,847,415
Inflation by spending category, 1941–2013
Between 1941 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 3987.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 458.8%, against 1484.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1941
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1941 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.91%
$1,585
Medical care
5.29%
$4,088
Food
4.10%
$1,809
Transportation
3.81%
$1,479
Apparel
2.42%
$559
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 2013
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 1941–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,483
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,585
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1941
$100 from 1941 had already become $387 by
1976, on its way to $1,585 in 2013; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1941 had the buying
power of $1,585; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1941 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,585 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1941 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1941-to-2013/