$100 in 1924 is worth $953 in 1998,
because prices increased 853.2% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$953
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
853.2%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$953
Price difference ($100 base)
$853
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1924 → 1998
$953
$100 in 1998 → 1924
$10.49
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1998
Between 1924 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 853.2%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1998: the 1924 dollar
lost 89.5% of its purchasing power over
these 74 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 1998 at the same ratio, 9.53: $1,000 becomes
$9,532, and $10,000 becomes $95,322.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1998
$1.00
$9.53
$5.00
$47.66
$10.00
$95.32
$20.00
$191
$50.00
$477
$100
$953
$500
$4,766
$1,000
$9,532
$5,000
$47,661
$10,000
$95,322
$100,000
$953,216
$1,000,000
$9,532,164
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1998
Between 1924 and 1998, food rose the most, up 957.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 396.3%, against 853.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$953
Food
3.24%
$1,057
Apparel
2.19%
$496
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 1998
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 1924–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$953
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $170 by
1959, on its way to $953 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $953; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1998: $100 is worth $953 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1998/