$100 in 1928 is worth $130 in 1947,
because prices increased 30.4% over that period, an average of
1.41% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$130
in 1947
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
30.4%
Average inflation rate
1.41% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$130
Price difference ($100 base)
$30.41
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1947
22.3
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1947
14.36%
$100 in 1928 → 1947
$130
$100 in 1947 → 1928
$76.68
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1947
Between 1928 and 1947, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 22.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 30.4%, which works out to an average of
1.41% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.77 buys in 1947: the 1928 dollar
lost 23.3% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1947 at the same ratio, 1.30: $1,000 becomes
$1,304, and $10,000 becomes $13,041.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1947
$1.00
$1.30
$5.00
$6.52
$10.00
$13.04
$20.00
$26.08
$50.00
$65.20
$100
$130
$500
$652
$1,000
$1,304
$5,000
$6,520
$10,000
$13,041
$100,000
$130,409
$1,000,000
$1,304,094
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1947
Between 1928 and 1947, apparel rose the most, up 59.6%, while food rose the least, up 47.9%, against 30.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1947, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.41%
$130
Apparel
2.49%
$160
Food
2.08%
$148
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 1947
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 6.88% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1947 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
1940–1947
6.88%
59.3%
$130
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 $130 in 1947; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1947, prices rose 14.4% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $130; the year's average CPI of 22.3 is the level
behind every 1947 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 14.4% in 1947, up from 1946’s 8.3% and
the fastest annual increase since 1920, as the last of the wartime price
controls disappeared and a year of strikes, wage catch-up, and lingering
shortages hit consumers all at once. Congress answered the previous year’s
strike wave that June, overriding President Truman’s veto to pass the
Taft-Hartley Act, which banned secondary boycotts and the closed shop and
let states adopt “right-to-work” laws curbing union power. American
attention was also turning outward. In a June 5 speech at Harvard,
Secretary of State George Marshall outlined a U.S.-funded plan to rebuild
Western Europe’s economies, an effort that would become known as the
Marshall Plan once Congress funded it the following year. The government
reorganized itself for the confrontation with the Soviet Union that plan was
partly designed to prevent: the National Security Act, signed July 26,
created the Department of Defense, the Air Force as a separate service, the
Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Council. Consumer
prices stood 125.3% above their 1913 level and 30.4% above
1929’s pre-Depression peak, up from just 1.2% above it four
years earlier. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage
stayed at 40 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1947: $100 is worth $130 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1947/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1947. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1947/