$100 in 1925 is worth $177 in 1964,
because prices increased 77.1% over that period, an average of
1.48% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$177
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
77.1%
Average inflation rate
1.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$177
Price difference ($100 base)
$77.14
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1925 → 1964
$177
$100 in 1964 → 1925
$56.45
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1964
Between 1925 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 77.1%, which works out to an average of
1.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.56 buys in 1964: the 1925 dollar
lost 43.5% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1964 at the same ratio, 1.77: $1,000 becomes
$1,771, and $10,000 becomes $17,714.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1964
$1.00
$1.77
$5.00
$8.86
$10.00
$17.71
$20.00
$35.43
$50.00
$88.57
$100
$177
$500
$886
$1,000
$1,771
$5,000
$8,857
$10,000
$17,714
$100,000
$177,143
$1,000,000
$1,771,429
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1964
Between 1925 and 1964, food rose the most, up 90.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 79.8%, against 77.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.48%
$177
Food
1.67%
$191
Apparel
1.52%
$180
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 1964
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 1925–1964 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$169
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$177
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $103 by
1945, on its way to $177 in 1964; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1964
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $177; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1964: $100 is worth $177 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1964/