$100 in 1942 is worth $592 in 1982,
because prices increased 492.0% over that period, an average of
4.55% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$592
in 1982
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
492.0%
Average inflation rate
4.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$592
Price difference ($100 base)
$492
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1982
96.5
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
$100 in 1942 → 1982
$592
$100 in 1982 → 1942
$16.89
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1982
Between 1942 and 1982, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 96.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 492.0%, which works out to an average of
4.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1982: the 1942 dollar
lost 83.1% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 1982 at the same ratio, 5.92: $1,000 becomes
$5,920, and $10,000 becomes $59,202.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1982
$1.00
$5.92
$5.00
$29.60
$10.00
$59.20
$20.00
$118
$50.00
$296
$100
$592
$500
$2,960
$1,000
$5,920
$5,000
$29,601
$10,000
$59,202
$100,000
$592,025
$1,000,000
$5,920,245
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1982
Between 1942 and 1982, medical care rose the most, up 764.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 266.3%, against 492.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1982, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.55%
$592
Medical care
5.54%
$864
Food
4.72%
$632
Transportation
4.61%
$606
Apparel
3.30%
$366
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 1982
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 8.22% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–1982 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
1980–1982
8.22%
17.1%
$592
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $185 by
1962, on its way to $592 in 1982; 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: 1982
In 1982, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $592; the year's average CPI of 96.5 is the level
behind every 1982 figure on this page.
1982 was the hard bottom of the disinflation Paul Volcker had set in motion.
Consumer prices rose just 6.2% for the year, roughly half of 1981’s rate and a
fraction of the 13.5% peak from two years earlier. The price fell because
demand had been crushed: the recession that began in July 1981 did not
officially end until November 1982, and unemployment kept climbing even as
the economy technically began to recover, reaching 10.8% in November and
December, the highest rate since the Great Depression. Manufacturing and
construction, especially the auto and housing industries starved of credit by
double-digit interest rates, bore the worst of it. Abroad, Mexico’s August
announcement that it could not service its foreign debt opened a Latin
American debt crisis that spread across the region and forced the Federal
Reserve and IMF into emergency lending. The stress on the financial system
pushed Volcker to start easing interest rates that October, stepping back
from the strict money-supply targets he had followed since 1979. Markets read
the shift correctly: the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 776.92 in
mid-August, and the rally that followed became the opening leg of the 1980s
bull market. By year’s end, the trade-off Volcker had bet on was becoming
visible: much lower inflation, at the cost of the worst unemployment in 40
years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1982: $100 is worth $592 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1982/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1982. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1982/