$100 in 1942 is worth $148 in 1950,
because prices increased 47.9% over that period, an average of
5.01% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$148
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
47.9%
Average inflation rate
5.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$148
Price difference ($100 base)
$47.85
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1942 → 1950
$148
$100 in 1950 → 1942
$67.63
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1950
Between 1942 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 47.9%, which works out to an average of
5.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.68 buys in 1950: the 1942 dollar
lost 32.4% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 1950 at the same ratio, 1.48: $1,000 becomes
$1,479, and $10,000 becomes $14,785.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1950
$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, 1942–1950
Between 1942 and 1950, food rose the most, up 64.9%, while medical care rose the least, up 41.1%, against 47.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.01%
$148
Food
6.45%
$165
Apparel
5.28%
$151
Transportation
4.47%
$142
Medical care
4.40%
$141
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 $120 by
1946, on its way to $148 in 1950; 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 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $148; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1950: $100 is worth $148 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1950/