$100 in 1924 is worth $81.87 in 1940,
because prices declined 18.1% over that period, an average of
1.24% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$81.87
in 1940
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-18.1%
Average inflation rate
-1.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$81.87
Price difference ($100 base)
-$18.13
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1940
14
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1940
0.72%
$100 in 1924 → 1940
$81.87
$100 in 1940 → 1924
$122
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1940
Between 1924 and 1940, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 14.
Cumulatively, prices declined 18.1%, which works out to an average of
-1.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$1.22 buys in 1940: the 1924 dollar
gained 22.1% in purchasing power over
these 16 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 1940 at the same ratio, 0.82: $1,000 becomes
$819, and $10,000 becomes $8,187.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1940
$1.00
$0.82
$5.00
$4.09
$10.00
$8.19
$20.00
$16.37
$50.00
$40.94
$100
$81.87
$500
$409
$1,000
$819
$5,000
$4,094
$10,000
$8,187
$100,000
$81,871
$1,000,000
$818,713
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1940
Every category fell between 1924 and 1940: food the most, down 21.1%, and apparel the least, down 18.7%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1940, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.24%
$81.87
Apparel
-1.28%
$81.34
Food
-1.47%
$78.95
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 1940
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.4% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1940 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $80.12 by
1932, on its way to $81.87 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 1924 had the buying
power of $81.87; 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 1924 to 1940: $100 is worth $81.87 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1940/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1940. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1940/