$100 in 1924 is worth $974 in 1999,
because prices increased 874.3% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$974
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
874.3%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$974
Price difference ($100 base)
$874
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1924 → 1999
$974
$100 in 1999 → 1924
$10.26
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1999
Between 1924 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 874.3%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.10 buys in 1999: the 1924 dollar
lost 89.7% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 1999 at the same ratio, 9.74: $1,000 becomes
$9,743, and $10,000 becomes $97,427.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1999
$1.00
$9.74
$5.00
$48.71
$10.00
$97.43
$20.00
$195
$50.00
$487
$100
$974
$500
$4,871
$1,000
$9,743
$5,000
$48,713
$10,000
$97,427
$100,000
$974,269
$1,000,000
$9,742,690
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1999
Between 1924 and 1999, food rose the most, up 979.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 389.9%, against 874.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$974
Food
3.22%
$1,080
Apparel
2.14%
$490
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 1999
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 1924–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$974
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $170 by
1959, on its way to $974 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $974; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 1999: $100 is worth $974 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1999/