$100 in 1924 is worth $629 in 1985,
because prices increased 529.2% over that period, an average of
3.06% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$629
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
529.2%
Average inflation rate
3.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$629
Price difference ($100 base)
$529
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1924 → 1985
$629
$100 in 1985 → 1924
$15.89
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1985
Between 1924 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 529.2%, which works out to an average of
3.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1985: the 1924 dollar
lost 84.1% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1985 at the same ratio, 6.29: $1,000 becomes
$6,292, and $10,000 becomes $62,924.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1985
$1.00
$6.29
$5.00
$31.46
$10.00
$62.92
$20.00
$126
$50.00
$315
$100
$629
$500
$3,146
$1,000
$6,292
$5,000
$31,462
$10,000
$62,924
$100,000
$629,240
$1,000,000
$6,292,398
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1985
Between 1924 and 1985, food rose the most, up 594.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 291.8%, against 529.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.06%
$629
Food
3.23%
$695
Apparel
2.26%
$392
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 1985
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1985 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$482
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$629
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $157 by
1954, on its way to $629 in 1985; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $629; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1985: $100 is worth $629 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1985/