$100 in 1922 is worth $103 in 1943,
because prices increased 3.0% over that period, an average of
0.14% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$103
in 1943
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
3.0%
Average inflation rate
0.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$103
Price difference ($100 base)
$2.98
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1943
17.3
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1943
6.13%
$100 in 1922 → 1943
$103
$100 in 1943 → 1922
$97.11
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1943
Between 1922 and 1943, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 17.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 3.0%, which works out to an average of
0.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.97 buys in 1943: the 1922 dollar
lost 2.9% of its purchasing power over
these 21 years.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
Every 1922 amount converts to 1943 at the same ratio, 1.03: $1,000 becomes
$1,030, and $10,000 becomes $10,298.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1943
$1.00
$1.03
$5.00
$5.15
$10.00
$10.30
$20.00
$20.60
$50.00
$51.49
$100
$103
$500
$515
$1,000
$1,030
$5,000
$5,149
$10,000
$10,298
$100,000
$102,976
$1,000,000
$1,029,762
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1943
Between 1922 and 1943, food rose the most, up 14.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 3.0%, against 3.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1943, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.14%
$103
Food
0.66%
$115
Apparel
0.14%
$103
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1922: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1922 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 1922–1943 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1922, at end
1922–1930
-0.07%
-0.6%
$99.40
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$83.33
1940–1943
7.31%
23.6%
$103
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $81.55 by
1932, on its way to $103 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 1922 had the buying
power of $103; 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 1922 to 1943: $100 is worth $103 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1943/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1943. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1943/