$100 in 1942 is worth $1,568 in 2019,
because prices increased 1468.4% over that period, an average of
3.64% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$1,568
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1468.4%
Average inflation rate
3.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,568
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,468
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1942 → 2019
$1,568
$100 in 2019 → 1942
$6.38
What happened to prices between 1942 and 2019
Between 1942 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1468.4%, which works out to an average of
3.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2019: the 1942 dollar
lost 93.6% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 2019 at the same ratio, 15.68: $1,000 becomes
$15,684, and $10,000 becomes $156,845.
Amount in 1942
Value in 2019
$1.00
$15.68
$5.00
$78.42
$10.00
$157
$20.00
$314
$50.00
$784
$100
$1,568
$500
$7,842
$1,000
$15,684
$5,000
$78,422
$10,000
$156,845
$100,000
$1,568,448
$1,000,000
$15,684,479
Inflation by spending category, 1942–2019
Between 1942 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 4558.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 364.6%, against 1468.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.64%
$1,568
Medical care
5.12%
$4,658
Food
3.73%
$1,677
Transportation
3.40%
$1,313
Apparel
2.01%
$465
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 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,568
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $592 by
1982, on its way to $1,568 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $1,568; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,568 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2019/