$100 in 1925 is worth $325 in 1976,
because prices increased 225.1% over that period, an average of
2.34% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$325
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
225.1%
Average inflation rate
2.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$325
Price difference ($100 base)
$225
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1925 → 1976
$325
$100 in 1976 → 1925
$30.76
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1976
Between 1925 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 225.1%, which works out to an average of
2.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1976: the 1925 dollar
lost 69.2% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1976 at the same ratio, 3.25: $1,000 becomes
$3,251, and $10,000 becomes $32,514.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1976
$1.00
$3.25
$5.00
$16.26
$10.00
$32.51
$20.00
$65.03
$50.00
$163
$100
$325
$500
$1,626
$1,000
$3,251
$5,000
$16,257
$10,000
$32,514
$100,000
$325,143
$1,000,000
$3,251,429
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1976
Between 1925 and 1976, food rose the most, up 273.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 185.9%, against 225.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.34%
$325
Food
2.62%
$373
Apparel
2.08%
$286
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1925–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$325
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $149 by
1951, on its way to $325 in 1976; 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: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $325; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1976: $100 is worth $325 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1976/