$100 in 1935 is worth $119 in 1942,
because prices increased 19.0% over that period, an average of
2.51% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$119
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
19.0%
Average inflation rate
2.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$119
Price difference ($100 base)
$18.98
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1935 → 1942
$119
$100 in 1942 → 1935
$84.05
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1942
Between 1935 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 19.0%, which works out to an average of
2.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.84 buys in 1942: the 1935 dollar
lost 16.0% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
Every 1935 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 1.19: $1,000 becomes
$1,190, and $10,000 becomes $11,898.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1942
$1.00
$1.19
$5.00
$5.95
$10.00
$11.90
$20.00
$23.80
$50.00
$59.49
$100
$119
$500
$595
$1,000
$1,190
$5,000
$5,949
$10,000
$11,898
$100,000
$118,978
$1,000,000
$1,189,781
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1942
Between 1935 and 1942, apparel rose the most, up 28.4%, while medical care rose the least, up 4.9%, against 19.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.51%
$119
Apparel
3.63%
$128
Food
3.14%
$124
Transportation
1.72%
$113
Medical care
0.69%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1935: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1935 to 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.90% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1935, at end
1935–1940
0.43%
2.2%
$102
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$119
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $103 by
1938, on its way to $119 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 1935 had the buying
power of $119; 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 1935 to 1942: $100 is worth $119 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1942/