$100 in 1925 is worth $471 in 1980,
because prices increased 370.9% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$471
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
370.9%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$471
Price difference ($100 base)
$371
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1925 → 1980
$471
$100 in 1980 → 1925
$21.24
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1980
Between 1925 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 370.9%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1980: the 1925 dollar
lost 78.8% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 1980 at the same ratio, 4.71: $1,000 becomes
$4,709, and $10,000 becomes $47,086.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1980
$1.00
$4.71
$5.00
$23.54
$10.00
$47.09
$20.00
$94.17
$50.00
$235
$100
$471
$500
$2,354
$1,000
$4,709
$5,000
$23,543
$10,000
$47,086
$100,000
$470,857
$1,000,000
$4,708,571
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1980
Between 1925 and 1980, food rose the most, up 426.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 245.6%, against 370.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$471
Food
3.06%
$526
Apparel
2.28%
$346
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 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1925–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$471
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $153 by
1953, on its way to $471 in 1980; 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: 1980
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $471; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1980: $100 is worth $471 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1980/