$100 in 1925 is worth $569 in 1983,
because prices increased 469.1% over that period, an average of
3.04% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$569
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
469.1%
Average inflation rate
3.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$569
Price difference ($100 base)
$469
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1925 → 1983
$569
$100 in 1983 → 1925
$17.57
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1983
Between 1925 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 469.1%, which works out to an average of
3.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1983: the 1925 dollar
lost 82.4% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 1983 at the same ratio, 5.69: $1,000 becomes
$5,691, and $10,000 becomes $56,914.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1983
$1.00
$5.69
$5.00
$28.46
$10.00
$56.91
$20.00
$114
$50.00
$285
$100
$569
$500
$2,846
$1,000
$5,691
$5,000
$28,457
$10,000
$56,914
$100,000
$569,143
$1,000,000
$5,691,429
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1983
Between 1925 and 1983, food rose the most, up 502.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 281.0%, against 469.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.04%
$569
Food
3.14%
$602
Apparel
2.33%
$381
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 1983
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 1925–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$569
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $153 by
1953, on its way to $569 in 1983; 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: 1983
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $569; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1983: $100 is worth $569 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1983/