$100 in 1928 is worth $103 in 1944,
because prices increased 2.9% over that period, an average of
0.18% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$103
in 1944
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2.9%
Average inflation rate
0.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$103
Price difference ($100 base)
$2.92
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1944
17.6
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
$100 in 1928 → 1944
$103
$100 in 1944 → 1928
$97.16
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1944
Between 1928 and 1944, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 17.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2.9%, which works out to an average of
0.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.97 buys in 1944: the 1928 dollar
lost 2.8% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1944 at the same ratio, 1.03: $1,000 becomes
$1,029, and $10,000 becomes $10,292.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1944
$1.00
$1.03
$5.00
$5.15
$10.00
$10.29
$20.00
$20.58
$50.00
$51.46
$100
$103
$500
$515
$1,000
$1,029
$5,000
$5,146
$10,000
$10,292
$100,000
$102,924
$1,000,000
$1,029,240
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1944
Between 1928 and 1944, apparel rose the most, up 19.2%, while food rose the least, up 3.7%, against 2.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1944, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.18%
$103
Apparel
1.10%
$119
Food
0.23%
$104
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 1944
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.89% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1944 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
1940–1944
5.89%
25.7%
$103
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $81.29 by
1936, on its way to $103 in 1944; 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 1944, prices rose 1.7% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $103; the year's average CPI of 17.6 is the level
behind every 1944 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose just 1.7% in 1944, down from 1943’s
6.1% and the slowest increase of the war years, as price and wage controls
held the cost of living nearly flat even as the conflict reached its most
expensive phase. The war itself turned decisively that June, when more than
150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, opening the
long-planned second front against Nazi Germany. Congress used the same
month to plan for the war’s end, passing the GI Bill on June 22 to give
returning veterans money for college or vocational training, low-cost home
and business loans, and unemployment benefits, a package that would reshape
American housing and higher education for a generation. The following
month, delegates from 44 Allied nations gathered at Bretton Woods, New
Hampshire, and agreed to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, itself
pegged to gold, creating the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
to manage the new system. Consumer prices stood 77.8% above their
1913 level, a cumulative wartime rise held down by controls
that would start unwinding the following year. First-class postage held at
3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1944: $100 is worth $103 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1944/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1944. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1944/