$100 in 1942 is worth $660 in 1985,
because prices increased 560.1% over that period, an average of
4.49% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$660
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
560.1%
Average inflation rate
4.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$660
Price difference ($100 base)
$560
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1942 → 1985
$660
$100 in 1985 → 1942
$15.15
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1985
Between 1942 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 560.1%, which works out to an average of
4.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1985: the 1942 dollar
lost 84.9% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 1985 at the same ratio, 6.60: $1,000 becomes
$6,601, and $10,000 becomes $66,012.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1985
$1.00
$6.60
$5.00
$33.01
$10.00
$66.01
$20.00
$132
$50.00
$330
$100
$660
$500
$3,301
$1,000
$6,601
$5,000
$33,006
$10,000
$66,012
$100,000
$660,123
$1,000,000
$6,601,227
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1985
Between 1942 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 960.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 293.3%, against 560.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.49%
$660
Medical care
5.65%
$1,061
Food
4.58%
$686
Transportation
4.50%
$665
Apparel
3.24%
$393
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 1985
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 1942–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$660
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $190 by
1964, on its way to $660 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $660; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1985: $100 is worth $660 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1985/