$100 in 1924 is worth $315 in 1975,
because prices increased 214.6% over that period, an average of
2.27% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$315
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
214.6%
Average inflation rate
2.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$315
Price difference ($100 base)
$215
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1924 → 1975
$315
$100 in 1975 → 1924
$31.78
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1975
Between 1924 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 214.6%, which works out to an average of
2.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1975: the 1924 dollar
lost 68.2% of its purchasing power over
these 51 years.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1924 amount converts to 1975 at the same ratio, 3.15: $1,000 becomes
$3,146, and $10,000 becomes $31,462.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1975
$1.00
$3.15
$5.00
$15.73
$10.00
$31.46
$20.00
$62.92
$50.00
$157
$100
$315
$500
$1,573
$1,000
$3,146
$5,000
$15,731
$10,000
$31,462
$100,000
$314,620
$1,000,000
$3,146,199
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1975
Between 1924 and 1975, food rose the most, up 293.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 170.5%, against 214.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.27%
$315
Food
2.72%
$393
Apparel
1.97%
$271
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1924: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1924 to 1975
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.76% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1975 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$227
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$315
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $141 by
1950, on its way to $315 in 1975; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1975
In 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $315; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1975: $100 is worth $315 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1975/