$100 in 1919 is worth $94.22 in 1942,
because prices declined 5.8% over that period, an average of
0.26% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$94.22
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-5.8%
Average inflation rate
-0.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$94.22
Price difference ($100 base)
-$5.78
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1919 → 1942
$94.22
$100 in 1942 → 1919
$106
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1942
Between 1919 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices declined 5.8%, which works out to an average of
-0.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$1.06 buys in 1942: the 1919 dollar
gained 6.1% in purchasing power over
these 23 years.
The fighting in Europe ended in November 1918, but American prices kept
climbing through 1919 almost as fast as they had during the war itself,
rising 14.6% for the year. Wartime price and production controls were being
dismantled, millions of soldiers were returning to the civilian labor
market, and demand that had been held back for years ran into supply that
had not caught up, a combination that kept the cost of living rising even
with the guns silent. Workers, whose pay had fallen behind three straight
years of double-digit inflation, pushed back: a general strike shut down
Seattle in February, Boston’s police force walked out in September, and a
nationwide steel strike that same month drew in roughly 350,000 workers and
ran into the following January. One price did fall that year: first-class
postage reverted to 2 cents on July 1, ending the wartime 3-cent rate that
had funded part of the war effort since late 1917. By year’s end, prices had
risen close to 75% since the CPI’s 1913 starting point,
compressing more than a decade of typical peacetime inflation into six years
of war and its aftermath.
Every 1919 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 0.94: $1,000 becomes
$942, and $10,000 becomes $9,422.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1942
$1.00
$0.94
$5.00
$4.71
$10.00
$9.42
$20.00
$18.84
$50.00
$47.11
$100
$94.22
$500
$471
$1,000
$942
$5,000
$4,711
$10,000
$9,422
$100,000
$94,220
$1,000,000
$942,197
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1942
Every category fell between 1919 and 1942: apparel the most, down 26.2%, and food the least, down 17.2%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.26%
$94.22
Food
-0.82%
$82.80
Apparel
-1.31%
$73.76
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1919: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1919 to 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.61% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1919–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1919, at end
1919–1920
15.61%
15.6%
$116
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$96.53
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$80.92
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$94.22
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $96.53 by
1930, on its way to $94.22 in 1942; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 15.6% in 1920, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $94.22; the year's average CPI of 16.3 is the level
behind every 1942 figure on this page.
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.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1942: $100 is worth $94.22 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1942/