$100 in 1942 is worth $1,237 in 2006,
because prices increased 1136.8% over that period, an average of
4.01% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$1,237
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1136.8%
Average inflation rate
4.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,237
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,137
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1942 → 2006
$1,237
$100 in 2006 → 1942
$8.09
What happened to prices between 1942 and 2006
Between 1942 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1136.8%, which works out to an average of
4.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2006: the 1942 dollar
lost 91.9% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 2006 at the same ratio, 12.37: $1,000 becomes
$12,368, and $10,000 becomes $123,681.
Amount in 1942
Value in 2006
$1.00
$12.37
$5.00
$61.84
$10.00
$124
$20.00
$247
$50.00
$618
$100
$1,237
$500
$6,184
$1,000
$12,368
$5,000
$61,840
$10,000
$123,681
$100,000
$1,236,810
$1,000,000
$12,368,098
Inflation by spending category, 1942–2006
Between 1942 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 3042.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 347.6%, against 1136.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.01%
$1,237
Medical care
5.53%
$3,142
Food
4.05%
$1,268
Transportation
3.86%
$1,131
Apparel
2.37%
$448
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 2006
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 1942–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$1,237
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $256 by
1972, on its way to $1,237 in 2006; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2006
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $1,237; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 2006: $100 is worth $1,237 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2006/