$100 in 1925 is worth $231 in 1971,
because prices increased 131.4% over that period, an average of
1.84% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$231
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
131.4%
Average inflation rate
1.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$231
Price difference ($100 base)
$131
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1925 → 1971
$231
$100 in 1971 → 1925
$43.21
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1971
Between 1925 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 131.4%, which works out to an average of
1.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1971: the 1925 dollar
lost 56.8% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 1971 at the same ratio, 2.31: $1,000 becomes
$2,314, and $10,000 becomes $23,143.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1971
$1.00
$2.31
$5.00
$11.57
$10.00
$23.14
$20.00
$46.29
$50.00
$116
$100
$231
$500
$1,157
$1,000
$2,314
$5,000
$11,571
$10,000
$23,143
$100,000
$231,429
$1,000,000
$2,314,286
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1971
Between 1925 and 1971, food rose the most, up 144.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 132.3%, against 131.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.84%
$231
Food
1.97%
$245
Apparel
1.85%
$232
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 1971
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 1925–1971 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$222
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$231
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $127 by
1947, on its way to $231 in 1971; 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: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $231; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1971: $100 is worth $231 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1971/