$100 in 1942 is worth $106 in 1943,
because prices increased 6.1% over that period, an average of
6.13% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$106
in 1943
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
6.1%
Average inflation rate
6.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$106
Price difference ($100 base)
$6.13
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1943
17.3
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1943
6.13%
$100 in 1942 → 1943
$106
$100 in 1943 → 1942
$94.22
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1943
Between 1942 and 1943, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 17.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 6.1%, which works out to an average of
6.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.94 buys in 1943: the 1942 dollar
lost 5.8% of its purchasing power over
these 1 years.
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.
Every 1942 amount converts to 1943 at the same ratio, 1.06: $1,000 becomes
$1,061, and $10,000 becomes $10,613.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1943
$1.00
$1.06
$5.00
$5.31
$10.00
$10.61
$20.00
$21.23
$50.00
$53.07
$100
$106
$500
$531
$1,000
$1,061
$5,000
$5,307
$10,000
$10,613
$100,000
$106,135
$1,000,000
$1,061,350
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1943
Between 1942 and 1943, food rose the most, up 11.0%, while transportation fell 0.6%, against 6.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1943, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.13%
$106
Food
11.04%
$111
Medical care
4.67%
$105
Apparel
4.12%
$104
Transportation
-0.62%
$99.38
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1942: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942grew to $106 by 1943; each row
shows the CPI, that year's inflation rate, and the running value.
In 1943, prices rose 6.1% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $106; the year's average CPI of 17.3 is the level
behind every 1943 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.1% in 1943, a slower pace than 1942’s
surge but still well above anything the country had seen before the war.
The slowdown owed largely to the “Hold the Line” order, issued that April,
which froze most wages, prices, and rents at their current levels after the
previous year’s jump showed how far demand had outrun the existing
controls. Rationing grew more sophisticated alongside the freeze: starting
in February, a points system split scarce goods into red points for meat,
butter, and other fats and blue points for canned and processed foods,
letting households budget across categories instead of simply going without
once a flat quota ran dry. The government also changed how it collected the
taxes paying for all of it. The Current Tax Payment Act, signed June 9,
required employers to withhold federal income tax directly from paychecks
for the first time, smoothing the flow of wartime revenue and creating the
pay-as-you-go system still used today. Consumer prices stood 74.7% above
their 1913 level and 33.1% above 1933’s
Depression-era low. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1943: $100 is worth $106 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1943/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1943. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1943/