$100 in 1942 is worth $148 in 1948,
because prices increased 47.9% over that period, an average of
6.73% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$148
in 1948
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
47.9%
Average inflation rate
6.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$148
Price difference ($100 base)
$47.85
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1948
24.1
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
$100 in 1942 → 1948
$148
$100 in 1948 → 1942
$67.63
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1948
Between 1942 and 1948, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 47.9%, which works out to an average of
6.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.68 buys in 1948: the 1942 dollar
lost 32.4% of its purchasing power over
these 6 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 1948 at the same ratio, 1.48: $1,000 becomes
$1,479, and $10,000 becomes $14,785.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1948
$1.00
$1.48
$5.00
$7.39
$10.00
$14.79
$20.00
$29.57
$50.00
$73.93
$100
$148
$500
$739
$1,000
$1,479
$5,000
$7,393
$10,000
$14,785
$100,000
$147,853
$1,000,000
$1,478,528
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1948
Between 1942 and 1948, food rose the most, up 69.5%, while transportation rose the least, up 28.8%, against 47.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1948, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.73%
$148
Food
9.19%
$169
Apparel
8.06%
$159
Medical care
5.07%
$135
Transportation
4.30%
$129
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 1942 had already become $110 by
1945, on its way to $148 in 1948; 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 the smallest rise was 1.7% in 1944.
In 1948, prices rose 8.1% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $148; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1948 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 8.1% in 1948, down slightly from 1947’s
14.4% but still the second straight year of sharp postwar inflation now
that wartime price controls were fully gone. Congress moved to stabilize a
different economy that April, passing the Economic Cooperation Act to fund
the plan Secretary of State George Marshall had proposed the year before:
more than $13 billion over four years to rebuild Western Europe and counter
Soviet influence. The Cold War turned tense closer to the plan’s target
that June, when Soviet forces cut off road and rail access to the
Western-controlled sectors of Berlin. American and British aircraft
responded almost immediately with an airlift of food, fuel, and supplies
that would keep the city running for nearly a year. Domestic politics
produced its own upset that November: nearly every poll and pundit had
predicted a Republican win, but Harry Truman defeated New York Governor
Thomas Dewey, handing the Chicago Tribune its famously wrong “Dewey Defeats
Truman” headline. Consumer prices finished the year 143.4% above their
1913 level and 40.9% above 1929’s
pre-Depression peak. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 40 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1948: $100 is worth $148 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1948/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1948. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1948/