$100 in 1942 is worth $963 in 1996,
because prices increased 862.6% over that period, an average of
4.28% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$963
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
862.6%
Average inflation rate
4.28% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$963
Price difference ($100 base)
$863
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1942 → 1996
$963
$100 in 1996 → 1942
$10.39
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1996
Between 1942 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 862.6%, which works out to an average of
4.28% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1996: the 1942 dollar
lost 89.6% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 1996 at the same ratio, 9.63: $1,000 becomes
$9,626, and $10,000 becomes $96,258.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1996
$1.00
$9.63
$5.00
$48.13
$10.00
$96.26
$20.00
$193
$50.00
$481
$100
$963
$500
$4,813
$1,000
$9,626
$5,000
$48,129
$10,000
$96,258
$100,000
$962,577
$1,000,000
$9,625,767
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1996
Between 1942 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 2032.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 393.3%, against 862.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.28%
$963
Medical care
5.83%
$2,133
Food
4.35%
$995
Transportation
4.14%
$894
Apparel
3.00%
$493
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 1996
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 1942–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$963
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $213 by
1968, on its way to $963 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $963; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1996: $100 is worth $963 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1996/