$100 in 1924 is worth $1,343 in 2012,
because prices increased 1242.7% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$1,343
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1242.7%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,343
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,243
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1924 → 2012
$1,343
$100 in 2012 → 1924
$7.45
What happened to prices between 1924 and 2012
Between 1924 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1242.7%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2012: the 1924 dollar
lost 92.6% of its purchasing power over
these 88 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 2012 at the same ratio, 13.43: $1,000 becomes
$13,427, and $10,000 becomes $134,265.
Amount in 1924
Value in 2012
$1.00
$13.43
$5.00
$67.13
$10.00
$134
$20.00
$269
$50.00
$671
$100
$1,343
$500
$6,713
$1,000
$13,427
$5,000
$67,133
$10,000
$134,265
$100,000
$1,342,655
$1,000,000
$13,426,550
Inflation by spending category, 1924–2012
Between 1924 and 2012, food rose the most, up 1438.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 371.1%, against 1242.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$1,343
Food
3.15%
$1,538
Apparel
1.78%
$471
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 2012
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 1924–2012 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,275
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,343
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $215 by
1969, on its way to $1,343 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $1,343; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1924 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,343 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-2012/