$100 in 1925 is worth $93.14 in 1942,
because prices declined 6.9% over that period, an average of
0.42% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$93.14
in 1942
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-6.9%
Average inflation rate
-0.42% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$93.14
Price difference ($100 base)
-$6.86
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1942
16.3
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1942
10.88%
$100 in 1925 → 1942
$93.14
$100 in 1942 → 1925
$107
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1942
Between 1925 and 1942, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 16.3.
Cumulatively, prices declined 6.9%, which works out to an average of
-0.42% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$1.07 buys in 1942: the 1925 dollar
gained 7.4% in purchasing power over
these 17 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.3% in 1925, the CPI’s largest single-year increase
since the deflationary swings of the early 1920s, though still mild next to
the double-digit inflation of the World War I years. The country’s cultural
fault lines were on full display that summer in Dayton, Tennessee, where
high school teacher John Scopes was tried July 10-21 for violating a state
law against teaching evolution, a case that drew national press coverage and
pitted prosecutor William Jennings Bryan against defense attorney Clarence
Darrow. Real estate speculation, meanwhile, peaked in Florida, where buyers
flipped undeveloped land in the Miami area on thin down payments, driving
prices far above what the land itself could support; the bubble would
collapse the following year. Detroit reshuffled that June too: Walter
Chrysler reorganized the struggling Maxwell Motor Company into Chrysler
Corporation, the start of what would become one of the American auto
industry’s “Big Three.” First-class postage held at 2 cents for the sixth
straight year.
Every 1925 amount converts to 1942 at the same ratio, 0.93: $1,000 becomes
$931, and $10,000 becomes $9,314.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1942
$1.00
$0.93
$5.00
$4.66
$10.00
$9.31
$20.00
$18.63
$50.00
$46.57
$100
$93.14
$500
$466
$1,000
$931
$5,000
$4,657
$10,000
$9,314
$100,000
$93,143
$1,000,000
$931,429
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1942
Between 1925 and 1942, apparel rose the most, up 1.5%, while food fell 6.7%, against 6.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1942, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.42%
$93.14
Apparel
0.09%
$102
Food
-0.41%
$93.33
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1925: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1925 to 1942
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.90% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1925–1942 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1925, at end
1925–1930
-0.93%
-4.6%
$95.43
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$80.00
1940–1942
7.90%
16.4%
$93.14
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $74.29 by
1933, on its way to $93.14 in 1942; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 10.9% in 1942, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1942, prices rose 10.9% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $93.14; the year's average CPI of 16.3 is the level
behind every 1942 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 10.9% in 1942, up from 1941’s already
rapid 5.0% and the fastest increase since 1920, as the economy’s crash
conversion to war production collided with shrinking supplies of civilian
goods. The government tried to contain it: the General Maximum Price
Regulation, effective May 18 and known as “General Max,” froze most retail
prices at their highest March level, the broadest price control Washington
had ever attempted. Rationing followed close behind. Sugar rationing began
that May and gasoline rationing went nationwide in December, the leading
edge of a system that would eventually cover meat, coffee, shoes, tires, and
dozens of other goods before the war ended. The year’s other defining
wartime measure had nothing to do with prices. Executive Order 9066, signed
February 19, authorized the military to remove more than 110,000 Japanese
Americans, most of them U.S. citizens, from the West Coast and hold them in
inland internment camps for the war’s duration, one of the era’s starkest
violations of civil liberties. Even with price controls in place, consumer
prices climbed more than 10% for the first time since 1920, leaving the CPI
64.6% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at 3
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1942: $100 is worth $93.14 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1942/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1942. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1942/