$100 in 1942 is worth $836 in 1991,
because prices increased 735.6% over that period, an average of
4.43% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$836
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
735.6%
Average inflation rate
4.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$836
Price difference ($100 base)
$736
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1942 → 1991
$836
$100 in 1991 → 1942
$11.97
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1991
Between 1942 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 735.6%, which works out to an average of
4.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1991: the 1942 dollar
lost 88.0% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1991 at the same ratio, 8.36: $1,000 becomes
$8,356, and $10,000 becomes $83,558.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1991
$1.00
$8.36
$5.00
$41.78
$10.00
$83.56
$20.00
$167
$50.00
$418
$100
$836
$500
$4,178
$1,000
$8,356
$5,000
$41,779
$10,000
$83,558
$100,000
$835,583
$1,000,000
$8,355,828
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1991
Between 1942 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 1554.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 382.0%, against 735.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.43%
$836
Medical care
5.89%
$1,654
Food
4.55%
$885
Transportation
4.26%
$774
Apparel
3.26%
$482
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 1991
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 1942–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$802
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$836
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $199 by
1966, on its way to $836 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $836; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1991: $100 is worth $836 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1991/