$100 in 1942 is worth $1,272 in 2007,
because prices increased 1172.0% over that period, an average of
3.99% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$1,272
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1172.0%
Average inflation rate
3.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,272
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,172
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1942 → 2007
$1,272
$100 in 2007 → 1942
$7.86
What happened to prices between 1942 and 2007
Between 1942 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1172.0%, which works out to an average of
3.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2007: the 1942 dollar
lost 92.1% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 2007 at the same ratio, 12.72: $1,000 becomes
$12,720, and $10,000 becomes $127,204.
Amount in 1942
Value in 2007
$1.00
$12.72
$5.00
$63.60
$10.00
$127
$20.00
$254
$50.00
$636
$100
$1,272
$500
$6,360
$1,000
$12,720
$5,000
$63,602
$10,000
$127,204
$100,000
$1,272,037
$1,000,000
$12,720,368
Inflation by spending category, 1942–2007
Between 1942 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 3180.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 345.7%, against 1172.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.99%
$1,272
Medical care
5.52%
$3,281
Food
4.05%
$1,318
Transportation
3.83%
$1,154
Apparel
2.33%
$446
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 2007
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 1942–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$1,272
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $256 by
1972, on its way to $1,272 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $1,272; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 2007: $100 is worth $1,272 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2007/