$100 in 1942 is worth $199 in 1966,
because prices increased 98.8% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$199
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
98.8%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$199
Price difference ($100 base)
$98.77
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1942 → 1966
$199
$100 in 1966 → 1942
$50.31
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1966
Between 1942 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 98.8%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.50 buys in 1966: the 1942 dollar
lost 49.7% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 1966 at the same ratio, 1.99: $1,000 becomes
$1,988, and $10,000 becomes $19,877.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.99
$5.00
$9.94
$10.00
$19.88
$20.00
$39.75
$50.00
$99.39
$100
$199
$500
$994
$1,000
$1,988
$5,000
$9,939
$10,000
$19,877
$100,000
$198,773
$1,000,000
$1,987,730
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1966
Between 1942 and 1966, medical care rose the most, up 145.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 83.5%, against 98.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$199
Medical care
3.82%
$246
Food
3.33%
$219
Transportation
2.97%
$202
Apparel
2.56%
$184
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 1966
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.01% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.52% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–1966 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1942, at end
1942–1950
5.01%
47.9%
$148
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$182
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$199
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $165 by
1954, on its way to $199 in 1966; 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 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $199; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1966: $100 is worth $199 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1966/