$100 in 1942 is worth $887 in 1993,
because prices increased 786.5% over that period, an average of
4.37% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$887
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
786.5%
Average inflation rate
4.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$887
Price difference ($100 base)
$787
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1942 → 1993
$887
$100 in 1993 → 1942
$11.28
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1993
Between 1942 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 786.5%, which works out to an average of
4.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1993: the 1942 dollar
lost 88.7% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1993 at the same ratio, 8.87: $1,000 becomes
$8,865, and $10,000 becomes $88,650.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1993
$1.00
$8.87
$5.00
$44.33
$10.00
$88.65
$20.00
$177
$50.00
$443
$100
$887
$500
$4,433
$1,000
$8,865
$5,000
$44,325
$10,000
$88,650
$100,000
$886,503
$1,000,000
$8,865,031
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1993
Between 1942 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 1782.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 400.7%, against 786.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.37%
$887
Medical care
5.92%
$1,882
Food
4.44%
$915
Transportation
4.20%
$815
Apparel
3.21%
$501
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 1993
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 1942–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$887
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $213 by
1968, on its way to $887 in 1993; 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: 1993
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $887; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1993: $100 is worth $887 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1993/