$100 in 1928 is worth $81.87 in 1940,
because prices declined 18.1% over that period, an average of
1.65% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$81.87
in 1940
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-18.1%
Average inflation rate
-1.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$81.87
Price difference ($100 base)
-$18.13
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1940
14
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1940
0.72%
$100 in 1928 → 1940
$81.87
$100 in 1940 → 1928
$122
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1940
Between 1928 and 1940, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 14.
Cumulatively, prices declined 18.1%, which works out to an average of
-1.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$1.22 buys in 1940: the 1928 dollar
gained 22.1% in purchasing power over
these 12 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 1940 at the same ratio, 0.82: $1,000 becomes
$819, and $10,000 becomes $8,187.
Amount in 1928
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, 1928–1940
Every category fell between 1928 and 1940: food the most, down 26.4%, and apparel the least, down 12.8%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1940, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.65%
$81.87
Apparel
-1.13%
$87.20
Food
-2.52%
$73.62
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 1940
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (1.2% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1940 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1928, at end
1928–1930
-1.18%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $78.36 by
1934, 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 1928 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 1928 to 1940: $100 is worth $81.87 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1940/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1940. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1940/