$100 in 1926 is worth $92.09 in 1942,
because prices declined 7.9% over that period, an average of
0.51% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$92.09
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-7.9%
Average inflation rate
-0.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$92.09
Price difference ($100 base)
-$7.91
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1926 → 1942
$92.09
$100 in 1942 → 1926
$109
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1942
Between 1926 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices declined 7.9%, which works out to an average of
-0.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$1.09 buys in 1942: the 1926 dollar
gained 8.6% in purchasing power over
these 16 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 0.92: $1,000 becomes
$921, and $10,000 becomes $9,209.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1942
$1.00
$0.92
$5.00
$4.60
$10.00
$9.21
$20.00
$18.42
$50.00
$46.05
$100
$92.09
$500
$460
$1,000
$921
$5,000
$4,605
$10,000
$9,209
$100,000
$92,090
$1,000,000
$920,904
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1942
Between 1926 and 1942, apparel rose the most, up 3.1%, while food fell 9.4%, against 7.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.51%
$92.09
Apparel
0.19%
$103
Food
-0.62%
$90.59
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 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 1926–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$92.09
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $75.71 by
1934, on its way to $92.09 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 1926 had the buying
power of $92.09; 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 1926 to 1942: $100 is worth $92.09 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1942/