$100 in 1925 is worth $185 in 1966,
because prices increased 85.1% over that period, an average of
1.51% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$185
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
85.1%
Average inflation rate
1.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$185
Price difference ($100 base)
$85.14
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1925 → 1966
$185
$100 in 1966 → 1925
$54.01
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1966
Between 1925 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 85.1%, which works out to an average of
1.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1966: the 1925 dollar
lost 46.0% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1966 at the same ratio, 1.85: $1,000 becomes
$1,851, and $10,000 becomes $18,514.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.85
$5.00
$9.26
$10.00
$18.51
$20.00
$37.03
$50.00
$92.57
$100
$185
$500
$926
$1,000
$1,851
$5,000
$9,257
$10,000
$18,514
$100,000
$185,143
$1,000,000
$1,851,429
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1966
Between 1925 and 1966, food rose the most, up 104.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 86.3%, against 85.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.51%
$185
Food
1.76%
$205
Apparel
1.53%
$186
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 1966
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 1925–1966 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
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$185
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $103 by
1945, on its way to $185 in 1966; 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: 1966
In 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $185; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1966: $100 is worth $185 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1966/