$100 in 1942 is worth $1,087 in 2001,
because prices increased 986.5% over that period, an average of
4.13% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$1,087
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
986.5%
Average inflation rate
4.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,087
Price difference ($100 base)
$987
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1942 → 2001
$1,087
$100 in 2001 → 1942
$9.20
What happened to prices between 1942 and 2001
Between 1942 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 986.5%, which works out to an average of
4.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2001: the 1942 dollar
lost 90.8% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 2001 at the same ratio, 10.87: $1,000 becomes
$10,865, and $10,000 becomes $108,650.
Amount in 1942
Value in 2001
$1.00
$10.87
$5.00
$54.33
$10.00
$109
$20.00
$217
$50.00
$543
$100
$1,087
$500
$5,433
$1,000
$10,865
$5,000
$54,325
$10,000
$108,650
$100,000
$1,086,503
$1,000,000
$10,865,031
Inflation by spending category, 1942–2001
Between 1942 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 2449.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 376.8%, against 986.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.13%
$1,087
Medical care
5.64%
$2,550
Food
4.19%
$1,124
Transportation
3.92%
$964
Apparel
2.68%
$477
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 2001
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 1942–2001 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,056
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,087
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $256 by
1972, on its way to $1,087 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $1,087; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,087 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2001/