$100 in 1928 is worth $85.96 in 1941,
because prices declined 14.0% over that period, an average of
1.16% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$85.96
in 1941
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-14.0%
Average inflation rate
-1.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$85.96
Price difference ($100 base)
-$14.04
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1941
14.7
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1941
5.00%
$100 in 1928 → 1941
$85.96
$100 in 1941 → 1928
$116
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1941
Between 1928 and 1941, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 14.7.
Cumulatively, prices declined 14.0%, which works out to an average of
-1.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$1.16 buys in 1941: the 1928 dollar
gained 16.3% in purchasing power over
these 13 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 1941 at the same ratio, 0.86: $1,000 becomes
$860, and $10,000 becomes $8,596.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1941
$1.00
$0.86
$5.00
$4.30
$10.00
$8.60
$20.00
$17.19
$50.00
$42.98
$100
$85.96
$500
$430
$1,000
$860
$5,000
$4,298
$10,000
$8,596
$100,000
$85,965
$1,000,000
$859,649
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1941
Every category fell between 1928 and 1941: food the most, down 19.6%, and apparel the least, down 8.8%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1941, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.16%
$85.96
Apparel
-0.71%
$91.20
Food
-1.67%
$80.37
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 1941
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.00% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1941 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
1940–1941
5.00%
5.0%
$85.96
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 $85.96 in 1941; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.0% in 1941, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1941, prices rose 5.0% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $85.96; the year's average CPI of 14.7 is the level
behind every 1941 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.0% in 1941, up sharply from just 0.7% in
1940 and the fastest annual increase since 1920, as
rearmament and Lend-Lease production pushed demand well ahead of peacetime
supply even before the United States formally joined the war. Congress had
already tilted the country away from neutrality that March, passing the
Lend-Lease Act to arm Britain, and later the Soviet Union and other Allies,
without requiring immediate payment. That April, the government created the
Office of Price Administration to hold down the cost of civilian goods, the
start of a price-control system that would keep official inflation numbers
well below what wartime demand alone would have produced over the next four
years. Then, on December 7, Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor,
destroying much of the Pacific Fleet and killing more than 2,400 Americans.
Congress declared war on Japan the next day and on Germany and Italy three
days later, ending years of debate over whether the United States should
stay out of the conflict spreading across Europe and Asia. Consumer prices,
already up 48.5% from their 1913 level, would climb far
faster over the next two years as the economy converted fully to war
production. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1941: $100 is worth $85.96 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1941/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1941. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1941/