$100 in 1925 is worth $282 in 1974,
because prices increased 181.7% over that period, an average of
2.14% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$282
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
181.7%
Average inflation rate
2.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$282
Price difference ($100 base)
$182
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1925 → 1974
$282
$100 in 1974 → 1925
$35.50
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1974
Between 1925 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 181.7%, which works out to an average of
2.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1974: the 1925 dollar
lost 64.5% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1974 at the same ratio, 2.82: $1,000 becomes
$2,817, and $10,000 becomes $28,171.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1974
$1.00
$2.82
$5.00
$14.09
$10.00
$28.17
$20.00
$56.34
$50.00
$141
$100
$282
$500
$1,409
$1,000
$2,817
$5,000
$14,086
$10,000
$28,171
$100,000
$281,714
$1,000,000
$2,817,143
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1974
Between 1925 and 1974, food rose the most, up 233.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 163.9%, against 181.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.14%
$282
Food
2.49%
$334
Apparel
2.00%
$264
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 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1925–1974 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
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$282
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $136 by
1949, on its way to $282 in 1974; 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: 1974
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $282; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1974: $100 is worth $282 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1974/