$100 in 1920 is worth $81.50 in 1942,
because prices declined 18.5% over that period, an average of
0.93% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$81.50
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-18.5%
Average inflation rate
-0.93% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$81.50
Price difference ($100 base)
-$18.50
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1920 → 1942
$81.50
$100 in 1942 → 1920
$123
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1942
Between 1920 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices declined 18.5%, which works out to an average of
-0.93% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$1.23 buys in 1942: the 1920 dollar
gained 22.7% in purchasing power over
these 22 years.
1920 was the last year of the inflation that had built since the war began:
consumer prices rose 15.6% for the year, leaving the CPI more than double its
1913 starting level after seven straight years of increases.
The boom behind those increases turned to bust before the year was over. The
Federal Reserve, worried about speculation, pushed its discount rate to a
record 7% that spring, and wholesale prices, which had led the wartime
runup, began collapsing within months. The National Bureau of Economic
Research dates the resulting downturn from January 1920 to July 1921, one of
the shortest but steepest contractions in U.S. history, and consumer prices
followed into outright decline, falling 10.5% in 1921. Two constitutional
changes reshaped the country that year, too. The 18th Amendment’s ban on
alcohol took legal effect January 17, enforced under the Volstead Act
Congress had passed the previous October. Then, on August 18, Tennessee’s
ratification of the 19th Amendment secured women’s right to vote nationwide,
and women cast ballots in a presidential election for the first time that
November, when Warren Harding won on a promise to return the country to
“normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic, and rising prices. First-class
postage held at 2 cents, unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1920 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 0.82: $1,000 becomes
$815, and $10,000 becomes $8,150.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1942
$1.00
$0.82
$5.00
$4.08
$10.00
$8.15
$20.00
$16.30
$50.00
$40.75
$100
$81.50
$500
$408
$1,000
$815
$5,000
$4,075
$10,000
$8,150
$100,000
$81,500
$1,000,000
$815,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1942
Every category fell between 1920 and 1942: apparel the most, down 38.1%, and food the least, down 26.7%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.93%
$81.50
Food
-1.40%
$73.33
Apparel
-2.15%
$61.95
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1920: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1920 to 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.90% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1920, at end
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$83.50
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$70.00
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$81.50
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $76.00 by
1931, on its way to $81.50 in 1942; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 10.9% in 1942, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $81.50; 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 1920 to 1942: $100 is worth $81.50 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1942/