$100 in 1928 is worth $101 in 1943,
because prices increased 1.2% over that period, an average of
0.08% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$101
in 1943
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1.2%
Average inflation rate
0.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$101
Price difference ($100 base)
$1.17
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1943
17.3
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1943
6.13%
$100 in 1928 → 1943
$101
$100 in 1943 → 1928
$98.84
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1943
Between 1928 and 1943, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 17.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1.2%, which works out to an average of
0.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.99 buys in 1943: the 1928 dollar
lost 1.2% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 1943 at the same ratio, 1.01: $1,000 becomes
$1,012, and $10,000 becomes $10,117.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1943
$1.00
$1.01
$5.00
$5.06
$10.00
$10.12
$20.00
$20.23
$50.00
$50.58
$100
$101
$500
$506
$1,000
$1,012
$5,000
$5,058
$10,000
$10,117
$100,000
$101,170
$1,000,000
$1,011,696
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1943
Between 1928 and 1943, apparel rose the most, up 11.2%, while food rose the least, up 4.9%, against 1.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1943, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.08%
$101
Apparel
0.71%
$111
Food
0.32%
$105
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 1943
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.31% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1943 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
1940–1943
7.31%
23.6%
$101
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $80.12 by
1935, on its way to $101 in 1943; 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 1943, prices rose 6.1% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $101; the year's average CPI of 17.3 is the level
behind every 1943 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.1% in 1943, a slower pace than 1942’s
surge but still well above anything the country had seen before the war.
The slowdown owed largely to the “Hold the Line” order, issued that April,
which froze most wages, prices, and rents at their current levels after the
previous year’s jump showed how far demand had outrun the existing
controls. Rationing grew more sophisticated alongside the freeze: starting
in February, a points system split scarce goods into red points for meat,
butter, and other fats and blue points for canned and processed foods,
letting households budget across categories instead of simply going without
once a flat quota ran dry. The government also changed how it collected the
taxes paying for all of it. The Current Tax Payment Act, signed June 9,
required employers to withhold federal income tax directly from paychecks
for the first time, smoothing the flow of wartime revenue and creating the
pay-as-you-go system still used today. Consumer prices stood 74.7% above
their 1913 level and 33.1% above 1933’s
Depression-era low. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1943: $100 is worth $101 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1943/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1943. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1943/