$100 in 1928 is worth $88.89 in 1931,
because prices declined 11.1% over that period, an average of
3.85% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$88.89
in 1931
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-11.1%
Average inflation rate
-3.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$88.89
Price difference ($100 base)
-$11.11
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1931
15.2
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1931
-8.98%
$100 in 1928 → 1931
$88.89
$100 in 1931 → 1928
$113
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1931
Between 1928 and 1931, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 15.2.
Cumulatively, prices declined 11.1%, which works out to an average of
-3.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$1.13 buys in 1931: the 1928 dollar
gained 12.5% in purchasing power over
these 3 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1928, the second straight year of mild decline
even as the stock market climbed sharply, a widening gap between asset
prices and the cost of living that later economists pointed to as an early
warning sign. The Federal Reserve tightened policy repeatedly over the year,
raising its discount rate in an effort to slow the flood of borrowed money
pouring into stock purchases without derailing the broader economy, a
balancing act it ultimately failed to manage. Herbert Hoover won the
presidential election that November, defeating Democrat Al Smith on a
platform built around continuing the prosperity of the Coolidge years; few
voters or policymakers anticipated how quickly that prosperity would end.
First-class postage remained at 2 cents, a price that had now held for nine
straight years.
Every 1928 amount converts to 1931 at the same ratio, 0.89: $1,000 becomes
$889, and $10,000 becomes $8,889.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1931
$1.00
$0.89
$5.00
$4.44
$10.00
$8.89
$20.00
$17.78
$50.00
$44.44
$100
$88.89
$500
$444
$1,000
$889
$5,000
$4,444
$10,000
$8,889
$100,000
$88,889
$1,000,000
$888,889
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1931
Every category fell between 1928 and 1931: food the most, down 20.9%, and apparel the least, down 12.0%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1931, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
-3.85%
$88.89
Apparel
-4.17%
$88.00
Food
-7.50%
$79.14
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1928: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1928 to 1931
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (1.2% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (9.0% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1931 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1928, at end
1928–1930
-1.18%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1931
-8.98%
-9.0%
$88.89
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $100 by
1929, on its way to $88.89 in 1931; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 0.0% in 1929, and prices fell 9.0% in 1931, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1931, prices fell 9.0% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $88.89; the year's average CPI of 15.2 is the level
behind every 1931 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 9.0% in 1931, a sharp acceleration from the 2.3% decline
in 1930, as falling wages, collapsing farm prices, and a fresh
wave of bank failures fed a downward spiral that the still-contracting
economy could not shake. More than 2,000 banks failed during the year, far
more than in 1930, as depositors who had watched earlier banks go under
pulled their cash out of ones they feared were next. The crisis went
international that September, when Britain suspended the gold standard amid
a run on sterling. The Federal Reserve’s response made the domestic downturn
worse before it made anything better: to defend the dollar’s own gold
backing, the Fed raised its discount rate sharply that October, in two steps
from 1.5% to 3.5%, tightening credit at the exact moment the economy needed
the opposite. Not every headline that year was grim. The Empire State
Building opened its doors on May 1, briefly the tallest building in the
world, though so much of Manhattan’s office space sat vacant amid the
Depression that tenants stayed scarce and New Yorkers took to calling it the
“Empty State Building.” Consumer prices had now fallen for two straight
years and stood 53.5% above their 1913 level, down from the
68.7% margin of just twelve months before. First-class postage remained at 2
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1931: $100 is worth $88.89 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1931/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1931. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1931/