$100 in 1921 is worth $96.65 in 1943,
because prices declined 3.4% over that period, an average of
0.15% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$96.65
in 1943
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-3.4%
Average inflation rate
-0.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$96.65
Price difference ($100 base)
-$3.35
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1943
17.3
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1943
6.13%
$100 in 1921 → 1943
$96.65
$100 in 1943 → 1921
$103
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1943
Between 1921 and 1943, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 17.3.
Cumulatively, prices declined 3.4%, which works out to an average of
-0.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$1.03 buys in 1943: the 1921 dollar
gained 3.5% in purchasing power over
these 22 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 1943 at the same ratio, 0.97: $1,000 becomes
$966, and $10,000 becomes $9,665.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1943
$1.00
$0.97
$5.00
$4.83
$10.00
$9.66
$20.00
$19.33
$50.00
$48.32
$100
$96.65
$500
$483
$1,000
$966
$5,000
$4,832
$10,000
$9,665
$100,000
$96,648
$1,000,000
$966,480
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1943
Between 1921 and 1943, food rose the most, up 7.5%, while apparel fell 16.3%, against 3.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1943, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.15%
$96.65
Food
0.33%
$108
Apparel
-0.80%
$83.73
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 1943
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.31% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1943 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
1940–1943
7.31%
23.6%
$96.65
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $76.54 by
1932, on its way to $96.65 in 1943; 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 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1943, prices rose 6.1% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $96.65; the year's average CPI of 17.3 is the level
behind every 1943 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.1% in 1943, a slower pace than 1942’s
surge but still well above anything the country had seen before the war.
The slowdown owed largely to the “Hold the Line” order, issued that April,
which froze most wages, prices, and rents at their current levels after the
previous year’s jump showed how far demand had outrun the existing
controls. Rationing grew more sophisticated alongside the freeze: starting
in February, a points system split scarce goods into red points for meat,
butter, and other fats and blue points for canned and processed foods,
letting households budget across categories instead of simply going without
once a flat quota ran dry. The government also changed how it collected the
taxes paying for all of it. The Current Tax Payment Act, signed June 9,
required employers to withhold federal income tax directly from paychecks
for the first time, smoothing the flow of wartime revenue and creating the
pay-as-you-go system still used today. Consumer prices stood 74.7% above
their 1913 level and 33.1% above 1933’s
Depression-era low. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1943: $100 is worth $96.65 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1943/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1943. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1943/