$100 in 1942 is worth $349 in 1976,
because prices increased 249.1% over that period, an average of
3.75% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$349
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
249.1%
Average inflation rate
3.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$349
Price difference ($100 base)
$249
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1942 → 1976
$349
$100 in 1976 → 1942
$28.65
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1976
Between 1942 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 249.1%, which works out to an average of
3.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1976: the 1942 dollar
lost 71.4% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 1976 at the same ratio, 3.49: $1,000 becomes
$3,491, and $10,000 becomes $34,908.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1976
$1.00
$3.49
$5.00
$17.45
$10.00
$34.91
$20.00
$69.82
$50.00
$175
$100
$349
$500
$1,745
$1,000
$3,491
$5,000
$17,454
$10,000
$34,908
$100,000
$349,080
$1,000,000
$3,490,798
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1976
Between 1942 and 1976, medical care rose the most, up 386.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 181.6%, against 249.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.75%
$349
Medical care
4.76%
$486
Food
4.16%
$400
Transportation
3.70%
$344
Apparel
3.09%
$282
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–1976 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$238
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$349
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $177 by
1958, on its way to $349 in 1976; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $349; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1976: $100 is worth $349 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1976/