$100 in 1942 is worth $985 in 1997,
because prices increased 884.7% over that period, an average of
4.25% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$985
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
884.7%
Average inflation rate
4.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$985
Price difference ($100 base)
$885
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1942 → 1997
$985
$100 in 1997 → 1942
$10.16
What happened to prices between 1942 and 1997
Between 1942 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 884.7%, which works out to an average of
4.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1997: the 1942 dollar
lost 89.8% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 1997 at the same ratio, 9.85: $1,000 becomes
$9,847, and $10,000 becomes $98,466.
Amount in 1942
Value in 1997
$1.00
$9.85
$5.00
$49.23
$10.00
$98.47
$20.00
$197
$50.00
$492
$100
$985
$500
$4,923
$1,000
$9,847
$5,000
$49,233
$10,000
$98,466
$100,000
$984,663
$1,000,000
$9,846,626
Inflation by spending category, 1942–1997
Between 1942 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 2092.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 397.8%, against 884.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.25%
$985
Medical care
5.77%
$2,193
Food
4.32%
$1,021
Transportation
4.08%
$902
Apparel
2.96%
$498
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 1997
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 1942–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$985
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $238 by
1970, on its way to $985 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $985; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 1997: $100 is worth $985 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-1997/