$100 in 1942 is worth $672 in 1986,
because prices increased 572.4% over that period, an average of
4.43% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$672
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
572.4%
Average inflation rate
4.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$672
Price difference ($100 base)
$572
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1942 → 1986
$672
$100 in 1986 → 1942
$14.87
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1986
Between 1942 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 572.4%, which works out to an average of
4.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1986: the 1942 dollar
lost 85.1% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 1986 at the same ratio, 6.72: $1,000 becomes
$6,724, and $10,000 becomes $67,239.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1986
$1.00
$6.72
$5.00
$33.62
$10.00
$67.24
$20.00
$134
$50.00
$336
$100
$672
$500
$3,362
$1,000
$6,724
$5,000
$33,620
$10,000
$67,239
$100,000
$672,393
$1,000,000
$6,723,926
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1986
Between 1942 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 1040.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 296.6%, against 572.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.43%
$672
Medical care
5.69%
$1,140
Food
4.55%
$708
Transportation
4.31%
$639
Apparel
3.18%
$397
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 1986
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 1942–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$672
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $190 by
1964, on its way to $672 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $672; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1986: $100 is worth $672 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1986/