$100 in 1942 is worth $611 in 1983,
because prices increased 511.0% over that period, an average of
4.51% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$611
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
511.0%
Average inflation rate
4.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$611
Price difference ($100 base)
$511
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1942 → 1983
$611
$100 in 1983 → 1942
$16.37
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1983
Between 1942 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 511.0%, which works out to an average of
4.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1983: the 1942 dollar
lost 83.6% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1983 at the same ratio, 6.11: $1,000 becomes
$6,110, and $10,000 becomes $61,104.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1983
$1.00
$6.11
$5.00
$30.55
$10.00
$61.10
$20.00
$122
$50.00
$306
$100
$611
$500
$3,055
$1,000
$6,110
$5,000
$30,552
$10,000
$61,104
$100,000
$611,043
$1,000,000
$6,110,429
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1983
Between 1942 and 1983, medical care rose the most, up 840.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 275.3%, against 511.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.51%
$611
Medical care
5.62%
$940
Food
4.65%
$645
Transportation
4.55%
$621
Apparel
3.28%
$375
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 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$611
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $185 by
1962, on its way to $611 in 1983; 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: 1983
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $611; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1983: $100 is worth $611 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1983/