$100 in 1916 is worth $161 in 1925,
because prices increased 60.6% over that period, an average of
5.40% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$161
in 1925
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
60.6%
Average inflation rate
5.40% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$161
Price difference ($100 base)
$60.55
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1925
17.5
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
$100 in 1916 → 1925
$161
$100 in 1925 → 1916
$62.29
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1925
Between 1916 and 1925, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 17.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 60.6%, which works out to an average of
5.40% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.62 buys in 1925: the 1916 dollar
lost 37.7% of its purchasing power over
these 9 years.
1916 was when World War I first showed up clearly in American price tags.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% for the year, easily the sharpest increase since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI history begins in 1913, as factories ran
flat out to fill steel, munitions, and food orders from Britain and France.
Railroad workers felt the squeeze from rising living costs enough to threaten
a nationwide strike; Congress headed it off in September with the Adamson
Act, which set an eight-hour standard workday for interstate rail employees,
the first federal law of its kind covering private-sector hours. Washington
was also preparing more directly for war: the National Defense Act, signed
in June, expanded the Army and National Guard and funded new
government-owned munitions plants, adding another source of demand to an
economy already running hot. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in November
largely on having kept the country out of the fighting so far, a promise
that would not survive the following spring. A first-class stamp still cost
2 cents, one of the few prices that had not yet moved.
Every 1916 amount converts to 1925 at the same ratio, 1.61: $1,000 becomes
$1,606, and $10,000 becomes $16,055.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1925
$1.00
$1.61
$5.00
$8.03
$10.00
$16.06
$20.00
$32.11
$50.00
$80.28
$100
$161
$500
$803
$1,000
$1,606
$5,000
$8,028
$10,000
$16,055
$100,000
$160,550
$1,000,000
$1,605,505
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1925
Between 1916 and 1925, apparel rose the most, up 56.5%, while food rose the least, up 46.0%, against 60.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1925, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.40%
$161
Apparel
5.11%
$157
Food
4.30%
$146
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1916: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1916 to 1925
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1920s (2.6% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1925 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1925
-2.64%
-12.5%
$161
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $183 by
1920, on its way to $161 in 1925; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1925, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1916 had the buying
power of $161; the year's average CPI of 17.5 is the level
behind every 1925 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.3% in 1925, the CPI’s largest single-year increase
since the deflationary swings of the early 1920s, though still mild next to
the double-digit inflation of the World War I years. The country’s cultural
fault lines were on full display that summer in Dayton, Tennessee, where
high school teacher John Scopes was tried July 10-21 for violating a state
law against teaching evolution, a case that drew national press coverage and
pitted prosecutor William Jennings Bryan against defense attorney Clarence
Darrow. Real estate speculation, meanwhile, peaked in Florida, where buyers
flipped undeveloped land in the Miami area on thin down payments, driving
prices far above what the land itself could support; the bubble would
collapse the following year. Detroit reshuffled that June too: Walter
Chrysler reorganized the struggling Maxwell Motor Company into Chrysler
Corporation, the start of what would become one of the American auto
industry’s “Big Three.” First-class postage held at 2 cents for the sixth
straight year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1916 to 1925: $100 is worth $161 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1925/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1925. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1925/