$100 in 1942 is worth $1,409 in 2012,
because prices increased 1308.6% over that period, an average of
3.85% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$1,409
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1308.6%
Average inflation rate
3.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,409
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,309
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1942 → 2012
$1,409
$100 in 2012 → 1942
$7.10
What happened to prices between 1942 and 2012
Between 1942 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1308.6%, which works out to an average of
3.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2012: the 1942 dollar
lost 92.9% of its purchasing power over
these 70 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 2012 at the same ratio, 14.09: $1,000 becomes
$14,086, and $10,000 becomes $140,855.
Amount in 1942
Value in 2012
$1.00
$14.09
$5.00
$70.43
$10.00
$141
$20.00
$282
$50.00
$704
$100
$1,409
$500
$7,043
$1,000
$14,086
$5,000
$70,428
$10,000
$140,855
$100,000
$1,408,552
$1,000,000
$14,085,521
Inflation by spending category, 1942–2012
Between 1942 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 3777.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 372.9%, against 1308.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.85%
$1,409
Medical care
5.36%
$3,878
Food
3.96%
$1,518
Transportation
3.80%
$1,358
Apparel
2.24%
$473
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 2012
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 1942–2012 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,338
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,409
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $372 by
1977, on its way to $1,409 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $1,409; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,409 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2012/