$100 in 1942 is worth $165 in 1954,
because prices increased 65.0% over that period, an average of
4.26% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$165
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
65.0%
Average inflation rate
4.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$165
Price difference ($100 base)
$65.03
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1942 → 1954
$165
$100 in 1954 → 1942
$60.59
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1954
Between 1942 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 65.0%, which works out to an average of
4.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.61 buys in 1954: the 1942 dollar
lost 39.4% of its purchasing power over
these 12 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 1954 at the same ratio, 1.65: $1,000 becomes
$1,650, and $10,000 becomes $16,503.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1954
$1.00
$1.65
$5.00
$8.25
$10.00
$16.50
$20.00
$33.01
$50.00
$82.52
$100
$165
$500
$825
$1,000
$1,650
$5,000
$8,252
$10,000
$16,503
$100,000
$165,031
$1,000,000
$1,650,307
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1954
Between 1942 and 1954, food rose the most, up 83.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 61.4%, against 65.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.26%
$165
Food
5.17%
$183
Medical care
4.33%
$166
Transportation
4.16%
$163
Apparel
4.07%
$161
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–).
Decade by decade: 1942 to 1954
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.01% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.79% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–1954 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1942, at end
1942–1950
5.01%
47.9%
$148
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$165
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $148 by
1948, on its way to $165 in 1954; 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 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $165; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1954: $100 is worth $165 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1954/