$100 in 1924 is worth $84.21 in 1937,
because prices declined 15.8% over that period, an average of
1.31% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$84.21
in 1937
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-15.8%
Average inflation rate
-1.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$84.21
Price difference ($100 base)
-$15.79
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1937
14.4
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
$100 in 1924 → 1937
$84.21
$100 in 1937 → 1924
$119
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1937
Between 1924 and 1937, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 14.4.
Cumulatively, prices declined 15.8%, which works out to an average of
-1.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$1.19 buys in 1937: the 1924 dollar
gained 18.8% in purchasing power over
these 13 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 1937 at the same ratio, 0.84: $1,000 becomes
$842, and $10,000 becomes $8,421.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1937
$1.00
$0.84
$5.00
$4.21
$10.00
$8.42
$20.00
$16.84
$50.00
$42.11
$100
$84.21
$500
$421
$1,000
$842
$5,000
$4,211
$10,000
$8,421
$100,000
$84,211
$1,000,000
$842,105
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1937
Every category fell between 1924 and 1937: apparel the most, down 17.9%, and food the least, down 13.8%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1937, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.31%
$84.21
Food
-1.14%
$86.18
Apparel
-1.51%
$82.09
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 1937
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.4% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (2.1% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1937 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1937
-2.09%
-13.8%
$84.21
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $97.66 by
1930, on its way to $84.21 in 1937; 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 1937, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $84.21; the year's average CPI of 14.4 is the level
behind every 1937 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% in 1937, the fastest pace since before the
Depression and the fourth straight year of gains, leaving prices 10.8% above
their 1933 trough though still 15.8% below the
1929 peak. The recovery did not last the year. The National
Bureau of Economic Research dates a new business cycle peak to that May, the
start of what became known as the Recession of 1937-38. Policy tightened on
two fronts at once: the Federal Reserve had doubled bank reserve
requirements over the preceding year to head off inflation it worried was
building, and the federal government pulled back its own spending even as
new Social Security payroll taxes began draining money from paychecks
months before the first benefit checks went out. Together they choked off a
recovery that had not yet reached its pre-Depression footing. Not every
milestone that year was economic. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic
on May 27 after four years of construction, at the time the longest
suspension bridge span in the world, a rare bright spot in a year that would
end with the economy sliding backward again. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1937: $100 is worth $84.21 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1937/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1937. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1937/