$100 in 1934 is worth $122 in 1942,
because prices increased 21.6% over that period, an average of
2.48% a year.
$100 in 1934 has
the same buying power as
$122
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
21.6%
Average inflation rate
2.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$122
Price difference ($100 base)
$21.64
CPI in 1934
13.4
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1934
3.08%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1934 → 1942
$122
$100 in 1942 → 1934
$82.21
What happened to prices between 1934 and 1942
Between 1934 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.4 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 21.6%, which works out to an average of
2.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1934 bought what
$0.82 buys in 1942: the 1934 dollar
lost 17.8% of its purchasing power over
these 8 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.1% in 1934, the first annual increase since 1926;
every year from 1927 through 1933 had been flat or falling,
so the turn marked a real break after eight years without a single gain.
Currency policy did some of the work. The Gold Reserve Act, signed January
30, formally devalued the dollar by raising the official price of gold from
$20.67 to $35 an ounce, part of the administration’s deliberate effort to
reflate prices after four straight years of deflation. Financial regulation
tightened at the same time: the Securities Exchange Act of June 6 created
the Securities and Exchange Commission to police stock exchanges and enforce
disclosure rules, a direct response to the speculation blamed for the 1929
crash. The recovery was fragile and unevenly felt, especially on the Great
Plains, where drought had turned overplowed farmland to dust. Over May 9-11,
high winds lifted an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil into the air,
darkening skies as far away as Washington and New York and giving city
readers who had never seen a wheat field a first glimpse of the disaster
building in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Consumer prices stood 35.4% above
their 1913 level, still well below the 1929 peak but rising
for the first time since the Depression began. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
Every 1934 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 1.22: $1,000 becomes
$1,216, and $10,000 becomes $12,164.
Amount in 1934
Value in 1942
$1.00
$1.22
$5.00
$6.08
$10.00
$12.16
$20.00
$24.33
$50.00
$60.82
$100
$122
$500
$608
$1,000
$1,216
$5,000
$6,082
$10,000
$12,164
$100,000
$121,642
$1,000,000
$1,216,418
Inflation by spending category, 1934–1942
Between 1934 and 1942, food rose the most, up 32.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 29.6%, against 21.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1934
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1934 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.48%
$122
Food
3.61%
$133
Apparel
3.30%
$130
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1934: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1934 to 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.90% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1934–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1934, at end
1934–1940
0.73%
4.5%
$104
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$122
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1934
$100 from 1934 had already become $105 by
1938, on its way to $122 in 1942; 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 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1934 had the buying
power of $122; the year's average CPI of 16.3 is the level
behind every 1942 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 10.9% in 1942, up from 1941’s already
rapid 5.0% and the fastest increase since 1920, as the economy’s crash
conversion to war production collided with shrinking supplies of civilian
goods. The government tried to contain it: the General Maximum Price
Regulation, effective May 18 and known as “General Max,” froze most retail
prices at their highest March level, the broadest price control Washington
had ever attempted. Rationing followed close behind. Sugar rationing began
that May and gasoline rationing went nationwide in December, the leading
edge of a system that would eventually cover meat, coffee, shoes, tires, and
dozens of other goods before the war ended. The year’s other defining
wartime measure had nothing to do with prices. Executive Order 9066, signed
February 19, authorized the military to remove more than 110,000 Japanese
Americans, most of them U.S. citizens, from the West Coast and hold them in
inland internment camps for the war’s duration, one of the era’s starkest
violations of civil liberties. Even with price controls in place, consumer
prices climbed more than 10% for the first time since 1920, leaving the CPI
64.6% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at 3
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1934 to 1942: $100 is worth $122 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1934 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1942/