$100 in 1924 is worth $1,105 in 2004,
because prices increased 1004.7% over that period, an average of
3.05% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$1,105
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1004.7%
Average inflation rate
3.05% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,105
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,005
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1924 → 2004
$1,105
$100 in 2004 → 1924
$9.05
What happened to prices between 1924 and 2004
Between 1924 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1004.7%, which works out to an average of
3.05% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2004: the 1924 dollar
lost 90.9% of its purchasing power over
these 80 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 2004 at the same ratio, 11.05: $1,000 becomes
$11,047, and $10,000 becomes $110,468.
Amount in 1924
Value in 2004
$1.00
$11.05
$5.00
$55.23
$10.00
$110
$20.00
$221
$50.00
$552
$100
$1,105
$500
$5,523
$1,000
$11,047
$5,000
$55,234
$10,000
$110,468
$100,000
$1,104,678
$1,000,000
$11,046,784
Inflation by spending category, 1924–2004
Between 1924 and 2004, food rose the most, up 1125.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 349.3%, against 1004.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.05%
$1,105
Food
3.18%
$1,225
Apparel
1.90%
$449
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 2004
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 1924–2004 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$1,007
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$1,105
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $181 by
1964, on its way to $1,105 in 2004; 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: 2004
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $1,105; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 2004: $100 is worth $1,105 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2004/