$100 in 1928 is worth $81.29 in 1936,
because prices declined 18.7% over that period, an average of
2.56% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$81.29
in 1936
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-18.7%
Average inflation rate
-2.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$81.29
Price difference ($100 base)
-$18.71
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1936
13.9
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
$100 in 1928 → 1936
$81.29
$100 in 1936 → 1928
$123
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1936
Between 1928 and 1936, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 13.9.
Cumulatively, prices declined 18.7%, which works out to an average of
-2.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$1.23 buys in 1936: the 1928 dollar
gained 23.0% in purchasing power over
these 8 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 1936 at the same ratio, 0.81: $1,000 becomes
$813, and $10,000 becomes $8,129.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1936
$1.00
$0.81
$5.00
$4.06
$10.00
$8.13
$20.00
$16.26
$50.00
$40.64
$100
$81.29
$500
$406
$1,000
$813
$5,000
$4,064
$10,000
$8,129
$100,000
$81,287
$1,000,000
$812,865
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1936
Every category fell between 1928 and 1936: food the most, down 22.7%, and apparel the least, down 16.0%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1936, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
-2.56%
$81.29
Apparel
-2.16%
$84.00
Food
-3.17%
$77.30
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 1936
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (1.2% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (3.0% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1936 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1928, at end
1928–1930
-1.18%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1936
-3.01%
-16.8%
$81.29
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $80.12 by
1932, on its way to $81.29 in 1936; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.1% in 1934, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1936, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $81.29; the year's average CPI of 13.9 is the level
behind every 1936 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1936, a third straight annual increase and part
of a slow, steady climb back from the 1933 trough, though
prices and the broader economy still had not fully recovered to their
pre-Depression levels. Voters delivered their verdict on that recovery in
November, reelecting Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican Alf Landon in one
of the most lopsided elections in U.S. history: Roosevelt carried 46 of 48
states and won the Electoral College 523 to 8, a broad public endorsement of
the New Deal. Public works kept advancing that year, too. Hoover Dam, one of
the era’s signature projects, had been dedicated in September 1935, but its
first generators did not begin sending electricity over transmission lines
to Los Angeles until October 1936, a milestone that showed how long even a
celebrated project took to reach full operation. Consumer prices ended the
year 40.4% above their 1913 level, still 18.7% below the
1929 peak, a gap that would keep narrowing until a sharp new recession
interrupted the recovery the following year. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1936: $100 is worth $81.29 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1936/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1936. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1936/