$100 in 1924 is worth $764 in 1990,
because prices increased 664.3% over that period, an average of
3.13% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$764
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
664.3%
Average inflation rate
3.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$764
Price difference ($100 base)
$664
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1924 → 1990
$764
$100 in 1990 → 1924
$13.08
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1990
Between 1924 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 664.3%, which works out to an average of
3.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1990: the 1924 dollar
lost 86.9% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 1990 at the same ratio, 7.64: $1,000 becomes
$7,643, and $10,000 becomes $76,433.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1990
$1.00
$7.64
$5.00
$38.22
$10.00
$76.43
$20.00
$153
$50.00
$382
$100
$764
$500
$3,822
$1,000
$7,643
$5,000
$38,216
$10,000
$76,433
$100,000
$764,327
$1,000,000
$7,643,275
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1990
Between 1924 and 1990, food rose the most, up 771.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 363.1%, against 664.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.13%
$764
Food
3.33%
$871
Apparel
2.35%
$463
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 1990
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 1924–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$764
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $170 by
1959, on its way to $764 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $764; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1990: $100 is worth $764 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1990/