$100 in 1942 is worth $1,924 in 2024,
because prices increased 1824.5% over that period, an average of
3.67% a year.
$100 in 1942 has
the same buying power as
$1,924
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1824.5%
Average inflation rate
3.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,924
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,824
CPI in 1942
16.3
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1942 → 2024
$1,924
$100 in 2024 → 1942
$5.20
What happened to prices between 1942 and 2024
Between 1942 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.3 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1824.5%, which works out to an average of
3.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1942 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2024: the 1942 dollar
lost 94.8% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2024 at the same ratio, 19.24: $1,000 becomes
$19,245, and $10,000 becomes $192,447.
Amount in 1942
Value in 2024
$1.00
$19.24
$5.00
$96.22
$10.00
$192
$20.00
$385
$50.00
$962
$100
$1,924
$500
$9,622
$1,000
$19,245
$5,000
$96,224
$10,000
$192,447
$100,000
$1,924,472
$1,000,000
$19,244,724
Inflation by spending category, 1942–2024
Between 1942 and 2024, medical care rose the most, up 5169.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 392.4%, against 1824.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1942
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1942 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.67%
$1,924
Medical care
4.95%
$5,270
Food
3.81%
$2,145
Transportation
3.51%
$1,692
Apparel
1.96%
$492
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 2024
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1942–2024 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,588
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$1,924
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1942
$100 from 1942 had already become $592 by
1982, on its way to $1,924 in 2024; 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1942 had the buying
power of $1,924; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1942 to 2024: $100 is worth $1,924 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1942 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1942-to-2024/