$100 in 1921 is worth $78.21 in 1940,
because prices declined 21.8% over that period, an average of
1.29% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$78.21
in 1940
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-21.8%
Average inflation rate
-1.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$78.21
Price difference ($100 base)
-$21.79
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1940
14
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1940
0.72%
$100 in 1921 → 1940
$78.21
$100 in 1940 → 1921
$128
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1940
Between 1921 and 1940, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 14.
Cumulatively, prices declined 21.8%, which works out to an average of
-1.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$1.28 buys in 1940: the 1921 dollar
gained 27.9% in purchasing power over
these 19 years.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1921 amount converts to 1940 at the same ratio, 0.78: $1,000 becomes
$782, and $10,000 becomes $7,821.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1940
$1.00
$0.78
$5.00
$3.91
$10.00
$7.82
$20.00
$15.64
$50.00
$39.11
$100
$78.21
$500
$391
$1,000
$782
$5,000
$3,911
$10,000
$7,821
$100,000
$78,212
$1,000,000
$782,123
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1940
Every category fell between 1921 and 1940: apparel the most, down 34.3%, and food the least, down 24.5%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1940, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.29%
$78.21
Food
-1.47%
$75.47
Apparel
-2.19%
$65.66
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1921: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1921 to 1940
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.8% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1940 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1921, at end
1921–1930
-0.77%
-6.7%
$93.30
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$78.21
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $93.30 by
1930, on its way to $78.21 in 1940; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.6% in 1937, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1940, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $78.21; the year's average CPI of 14 is the level
behind every 1940 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1940, snapping 1939’s decline
and marking the first increase since 1937. The gain was modest, and the CPI
still stood 18.1% below its 1929 peak, a reminder of how far
the recovery from the Depression’s trough had left to go even as defense
orders from Britain and France began reaching American factories. War was
already reshaping domestic policy well before it touched American soil.
Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act that September, the
country’s first peacetime draft, requiring men aged 21 to 35 to register and
authorizing the induction of up to 900,000 men a year, more than a year
before Pearl Harbor. That November, Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented
third term, defeating Republican Wendell Willkie after campaigning on
keeping the United States out of the war then consuming Europe and Asia. The
promise would not hold much longer: within two years, wartime demand would
push consumer prices up faster than at any point since the aftermath of
World War I. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the federal minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour, the level set the previous October under
the Fair Labor Standards Act.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1940: $100 is worth $78.21 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1940/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1940. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1940/