$100 in 1924 is worth $692 in 1988,
because prices increased 591.8% over that period, an average of
3.07% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$692
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
591.8%
Average inflation rate
3.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$692
Price difference ($100 base)
$592
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1924 → 1988
$692
$100 in 1988 → 1924
$14.45
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1988
Between 1924 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 591.8%, which works out to an average of
3.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1988: the 1924 dollar
lost 85.5% of its purchasing power over
these 64 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 1988 at the same ratio, 6.92: $1,000 becomes
$6,918, and $10,000 becomes $69,181.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1988
$1.00
$6.92
$5.00
$34.59
$10.00
$69.18
$20.00
$138
$50.00
$346
$100
$692
$500
$3,459
$1,000
$6,918
$5,000
$34,591
$10,000
$69,181
$100,000
$691,813
$1,000,000
$6,918,129
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1988
Between 1924 and 1988, food rose the most, up 677.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 330.6%, against 591.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.07%
$692
Food
3.26%
$778
Apparel
2.31%
$431
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 1988
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 1924–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$692
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $157 by
1954, on its way to $692 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $692; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1988: $100 is worth $692 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1988/