$100 in 1942 is worth $558 in 1981,
because prices increased 457.7% over that period, an average of
4.51% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$558
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
457.7%
Average inflation rate
4.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$558
Price difference ($100 base)
$458
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1942 → 1981
$558
$100 in 1981 → 1942
$17.93
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1981
Between 1942 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 457.7%, which works out to an average of
4.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1981: the 1942 dollar
lost 82.1% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1981 at the same ratio, 5.58: $1,000 becomes
$5,577, and $10,000 becomes $55,767.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1981
$1.00
$5.58
$5.00
$27.88
$10.00
$55.77
$20.00
$112
$50.00
$279
$100
$558
$500
$2,788
$1,000
$5,577
$5,000
$27,883
$10,000
$55,767
$100,000
$557,669
$1,000,000
$5,576,687
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1981
Between 1942 and 1981, medical care rose the most, up 674.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 256.9%, against 457.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.51%
$558
Medical care
5.39%
$775
Food
4.74%
$608
Transportation
4.62%
$583
Apparel
3.32%
$357
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$506
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$558
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $185 by
1962, on its way to $558 in 1981; 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: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $558; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1981: $100 is worth $558 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1981/