$100 in 1925 is worth $138 in 1950,
because prices increased 37.7% over that period, an average of
1.29% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$138
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
37.7%
Average inflation rate
1.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$138
Price difference ($100 base)
$37.71
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1925 → 1950
$138
$100 in 1950 → 1925
$72.61
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1950
Between 1925 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 37.7%, which works out to an average of
1.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1950: the 1925 dollar
lost 27.4% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1950 at the same ratio, 1.38: $1,000 becomes
$1,377, and $10,000 becomes $13,771.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.38
$5.00
$6.89
$10.00
$13.77
$20.00
$27.54
$50.00
$68.86
$100
$138
$500
$689
$1,000
$1,377
$5,000
$6,886
$10,000
$13,771
$100,000
$137,714
$1,000,000
$1,377,143
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1950
Between 1925 and 1950, food rose the most, up 53.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 53.2%, against 37.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.29%
$138
Food
1.74%
$154
Apparel
1.72%
$153
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 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1925–1950 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
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$138
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $82.29 by
1937, on its way to $138 in 1950; 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.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $138; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1950: $100 is worth $138 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1950/