Mildred Pierce shows readers Los Angeles during the 1930s, the heart of the Great Depression. The Depression was a worldwide economic crisis that began with the stock market crash of September 1929, and took years to recover from; some historians argue that only the spending ramp up that accompanied WWII fully pulled the US out of this period of stagnation. In the novel, the effects of the Depression are multifold. Bert’s real estate business sinks as housing prices dramatically fall. Forced to mortgage his house to have liquid assets, Bert leaves Mildred with an upside-down loan—meaning, she owes more on the house than it would be worth if she sold it. The 1930s housing market collapse will be familiar to modern readers from the 2008 financial crisis, in which many people ended up in a similar upside-down mortgage situation. However, in the novel, there is also an upside to this Depression real estate problem: Bert’s company actually financially benefits from donating a house to Mildred—a tax loophole she uses to start a restaurant.

Another key historical event that is important to the novel is the end of Prohibition. The 18th Amendment, banning the sale of alcoholic beverages, went into effect in 1920.