$100 in 1924 is worth $867 in 1994,
because prices increased 766.7% over that period, an average of
3.13% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$867
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
766.7%
Average inflation rate
3.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$867
Price difference ($100 base)
$767
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1924 → 1994
$867
$100 in 1994 → 1924
$11.54
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1994
Between 1924 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 766.7%, which works out to an average of
3.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1994: the 1924 dollar
lost 88.5% of its purchasing power over
these 70 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 1994 at the same ratio, 8.67: $1,000 becomes
$8,667, and $10,000 becomes $86,667.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1994
$1.00
$8.67
$5.00
$43.33
$10.00
$86.67
$20.00
$173
$50.00
$433
$100
$867
$500
$4,333
$1,000
$8,667
$5,000
$43,333
$10,000
$86,667
$100,000
$866,667
$1,000,000
$8,666,667
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1994
Between 1924 and 1994, food rose the most, up 849.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 397.8%, against 766.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.13%
$867
Food
3.27%
$949
Apparel
2.32%
$498
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 1994
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 1924–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$867
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $170 by
1959, on its way to $867 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $867; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1994: $100 is worth $867 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1994/