$100 in 1924 is worth $820 in 1992,
because prices increased 720.5% over that period, an average of
3.14% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$820
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
720.5%
Average inflation rate
3.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$820
Price difference ($100 base)
$720
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1924 → 1992
$820
$100 in 1992 → 1924
$12.19
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1992
Between 1924 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 720.5%, which works out to an average of
3.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1992: the 1924 dollar
lost 87.8% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 1992 at the same ratio, 8.20: $1,000 becomes
$8,205, and $10,000 becomes $82,047.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1992
$1.00
$8.20
$5.00
$41.02
$10.00
$82.05
$20.00
$164
$50.00
$410
$100
$820
$500
$4,102
$1,000
$8,205
$5,000
$41,023
$10,000
$82,047
$100,000
$820,468
$1,000,000
$8,204,678
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1992
Between 1924 and 1992, food rose the most, up 807.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 392.2%, against 720.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.14%
$820
Food
3.30%
$907
Apparel
2.37%
$492
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 1992
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 1924–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$820
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $170 by
1959, on its way to $820 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $820; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1992: $100 is worth $820 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1992/