$100 in 1917 is worth $137 in 1925,
because prices increased 36.7% over that period, an average of
3.99% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$137
in 1925
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
36.7%
Average inflation rate
3.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$137
Price difference ($100 base)
$36.72
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1925
17.5
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
$100 in 1917 → 1925
$137
$100 in 1925 → 1917
$73.14
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1925
Between 1917 and 1925, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 17.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 36.7%, which works out to an average of
3.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1925: the 1917 dollar
lost 26.9% of its purchasing power over
these 8 years.
1917 is when World War I inflation stopped being a background trend and
became the dominant fact of American economic life. Consumer prices rose
17.4% for the year, more than double the previous year’s already sharp
increase, as the country’s April 6 entry into the war layered federal war
spending on top of an economy already strained by military demand and
worker shortages. Congress paid for the war with the War Revenue Act that
October, which sharply raised income taxes, created a new tax on wartime
business profits, and, in a small but very visible change for ordinary
households, raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 2 cents to 3 cents
that November, the rate’s first move since 1885. Herbert Hoover took over
the new Food Administration in August and asked Americans to conserve food
voluntarily rather than face formal rationing, a campaign that became
famous enough that “Hooverize” entered the language as a verb for cutting
back. None of it slowed prices much: the 17.4% increase would be topped
again the very next year, in 1918.
Every 1917 amount converts to 1925 at the same ratio, 1.37: $1,000 becomes
$1,367, and $10,000 becomes $13,672.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1925
$1.00
$1.37
$5.00
$6.84
$10.00
$13.67
$20.00
$27.34
$50.00
$68.36
$100
$137
$500
$684
$1,000
$1,367
$5,000
$6,836
$10,000
$13,672
$100,000
$136,719
$1,000,000
$1,367,188
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1925
Between 1917 and 1925, apparel rose the most, up 30.2%, while food rose the least, up 13.8%, against 36.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1925, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.99%
$137
Apparel
3.35%
$130
Food
1.63%
$114
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1917: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1917 to 1925
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1920s (2.6% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1925 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1917, at end
1917–1920
16.04%
56.3%
$156
1920–1925
-2.64%
-12.5%
$137
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $140 by
1921, on its way to $137 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 1917 had the buying
power of $137; 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 1917 to 1925: $100 is worth $137 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1925/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1925. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1925/