$100 in 1924 is worth $95.32 in 1942,
because prices declined 4.7% over that period, an average of
0.27% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$95.32
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-4.7%
Average inflation rate
-0.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$95.32
Price difference ($100 base)
-$4.68
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1924 → 1942
$95.32
$100 in 1942 → 1924
$105
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1942
Between 1924 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices declined 4.7%, which works out to an average of
-0.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$1.05 buys in 1942: the 1924 dollar
gained 4.9% in purchasing power over
these 18 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 1942 at the same ratio, 0.95: $1,000 becomes
$953, and $10,000 becomes $9,532.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1942
$1.00
$0.95
$5.00
$4.77
$10.00
$9.53
$20.00
$19.06
$50.00
$47.66
$100
$95.32
$500
$477
$1,000
$953
$5,000
$4,766
$10,000
$9,532
$100,000
$95,322
$1,000,000
$953,216
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1942
Between 1924 and 1942, food rose the most, up 1.3%, while apparel fell 0.4%, against 4.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.27%
$95.32
Food
0.07%
$101
Apparel
-0.02%
$99.63
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 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.90% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1942 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
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$95.32
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $76.02 by
1933, on its way to $95.32 in 1942; 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 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $95.32; the year's average CPI of 16.3 is the level
behind every 1942 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 10.9% in 1942, up from 1941’s already
rapid 5.0% and the fastest increase since 1920, as the economy’s crash
conversion to war production collided with shrinking supplies of civilian
goods. The government tried to contain it: the General Maximum Price
Regulation, effective May 18 and known as “General Max,” froze most retail
prices at their highest March level, the broadest price control Washington
had ever attempted. Rationing followed close behind. Sugar rationing began
that May and gasoline rationing went nationwide in December, the leading
edge of a system that would eventually cover meat, coffee, shoes, tires, and
dozens of other goods before the war ended. The year’s other defining
wartime measure had nothing to do with prices. Executive Order 9066, signed
February 19, authorized the military to remove more than 110,000 Japanese
Americans, most of them U.S. citizens, from the West Coast and hold them in
inland internment camps for the war’s duration, one of the era’s starkest
violations of civil liberties. Even with price controls in place, consumer
prices climbed more than 10% for the first time since 1920, leaving the CPI
64.6% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at 3
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1942: $100 is worth $95.32 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1942/