$100 in 1924 is worth $76.02 in 1933,
because prices declined 24.0% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$76.02
in 1933
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-24.0%
Average inflation rate
-3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$76.02
Price difference ($100 base)
-$23.98
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1933
13
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
$100 in 1924 → 1933
$76.02
$100 in 1933 → 1924
$132
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1933
Between 1924 and 1933, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 13.
Cumulatively, prices declined 24.0%, which works out to an average of
-3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$1.32 buys in 1933: the 1924 dollar
gained 31.5% in purchasing power over
these 9 years.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1924 amount converts to 1933 at the same ratio, 0.76: $1,000 becomes
$760, and $10,000 becomes $7,602.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1933
$1.00
$0.76
$5.00
$3.80
$10.00
$7.60
$20.00
$15.20
$50.00
$38.01
$100
$76.02
$500
$380
$1,000
$760
$5,000
$3,801
$10,000
$7,602
$100,000
$76,023
$1,000,000
$760,234
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1933
Every category fell between 1924 and 1933: food the most, down 31.6%, and apparel the least, down 29.9%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1933, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
-3.00%
$76.02
Apparel
-3.86%
$70.15
Food
-4.13%
$68.42
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1924: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1924 to 1933
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.4% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (8.0% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1933 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1933
-8.01%
-22.2%
$76.02
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $100 by
1928, on its way to $76.02 in 1933; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.3% in 1925, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1933, prices fell 5.1% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $76.02; the year's average CPI of 13 is the level
behind every 1933 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 5.1% in 1933, a smaller decline than 1932’s
but enough to complete a four-year slide of 24.0% from the 1929
peak. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the trough of that
contraction to March 1933, closing out the longest downturn in its
chronology, one that had run 43 months since August 1929. The bottom
arrived alongside a change in government: Franklin D. Roosevelt was
inaugurated March 4 and, within 48 hours, ordered every bank in the country
closed to halt a fresh round of runs. Congress passed the Emergency Banking
Act on March 9, letting solvent banks reopen under federal supervision, and
the panic that had been building for months broke almost immediately. The
administration moved on the currency next: Executive Order 6102, issued
April 5, required Americans to turn in most gold coin, bullion, and
certificates to the Federal Reserve, taking the country off the domestic
gold standard (formal devaluation of the dollar followed the next January).
Congress capped the year’s banking overhaul in June with the Banking Act of
1933, commonly called Glass-Steagall, which created the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation and separated commercial banking from investment
banking. Even after four straight years of falling prices, the CPI still
stood 31.3% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1933: $100 is worth $76.02 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1933/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1933. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1933/