$100 in 1925 is worth $254 in 1973,
because prices increased 153.7% over that period, an average of
1.96% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$254
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
153.7%
Average inflation rate
1.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$254
Price difference ($100 base)
$154
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1925 → 1973
$254
$100 in 1973 → 1925
$39.41
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1973
Between 1925 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 153.7%, which works out to an average of
1.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.39 buys in 1973: the 1925 dollar
lost 60.6% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 1973 at the same ratio, 2.54: $1,000 becomes
$2,537, and $10,000 becomes $25,371.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1973
$1.00
$2.54
$5.00
$12.69
$10.00
$25.37
$20.00
$50.74
$50.00
$127
$100
$254
$500
$1,269
$1,000
$2,537
$5,000
$12,686
$10,000
$25,371
$100,000
$253,714
$1,000,000
$2,537,143
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1973
Between 1925 and 1973, food rose the most, up 192.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 145.6%, against 153.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.96%
$254
Food
2.26%
$292
Apparel
1.89%
$246
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 1973
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 1925–1973 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
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$254
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $136 by
1949, on its way to $254 in 1973; 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: 1973
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $254; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1973: $100 is worth $254 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1973/