$100 in 1928 is worth $114 in 1946,
because prices increased 14.0% over that period, an average of
0.73% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$114
in 1946
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
14.0%
Average inflation rate
0.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$114
Price difference ($100 base)
$14.04
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1946
19.5
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1946
8.33%
$100 in 1928 → 1946
$114
$100 in 1946 → 1928
$87.69
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1946
Between 1928 and 1946, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 19.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 14.0%, which works out to an average of
0.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.88 buys in 1946: the 1928 dollar
lost 12.3% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1946 at the same ratio, 1.14: $1,000 becomes
$1,140, and $10,000 becomes $11,404.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1946
$1.00
$1.14
$5.00
$5.70
$10.00
$11.40
$20.00
$22.81
$50.00
$57.02
$100
$114
$500
$570
$1,000
$1,140
$5,000
$5,702
$10,000
$11,404
$100,000
$114,035
$1,000,000
$1,140,351
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1946
Between 1928 and 1946, apparel rose the most, up 37.6%, while food rose the least, up 21.5%, against 14.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1946, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.73%
$114
Apparel
1.79%
$138
Food
1.09%
$121
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 1946
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.68% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1946 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
1940–1946
5.68%
39.3%
$114
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $84.21 by
1937, on its way to $114 in 1946; 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 1946, prices rose 8.3% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $114; the year's average CPI of 19.5 is the level
behind every 1946 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 8.3% in 1946, up sharply from 1945’s
2.3% and the sharpest increase since 1942, as wartime price controls
finally came apart. Congress let the Office of Price Administration’s
authority lapse at the end of June, reinstated a weaker version soon after,
then wound the whole system down through the rest of the year, releasing
years of pent-up demand into the price level almost at once. Meat was the
clearest casualty of the fight over decontrol: farmers withheld livestock
rather than sell at capped prices, producing severe shortages that spring
and summer until ceilings on meat were lifted that October, after which
supplies reappeared almost overnight. Labor cashed in its own wartime
restraint the same year. An estimated 4.6 million workers walked out at
some point in 1946, hitting steel, coal, automakers, and the railroads in
the largest strike wave in U.S. history, as unions pushed for wage gains to
offset cost-of-living increases controls could no longer contain. Amid the
turmoil, Congress made a less visible but lasting change to economic
policy: the Employment Act of 1946, signed that February, committed the
federal government to promoting maximum employment and created the Council
of Economic Advisers. Consumer prices stood 97.0% above their
1913 level, nearly double where the index had started 33
years earlier. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage
stayed at 40 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1946: $100 is worth $114 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1946/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1946. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1946/