$100 in 1925 is worth $626 in 1986,
because prices increased 526.3% over that period, an average of
3.05% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$626
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
526.3%
Average inflation rate
3.05% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$626
Price difference ($100 base)
$526
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1925 → 1986
$626
$100 in 1986 → 1925
$15.97
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1986
Between 1925 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 526.3%, which works out to an average of
3.05% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1986: the 1925 dollar
lost 84.0% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1986 at the same ratio, 6.26: $1,000 becomes
$6,263, and $10,000 becomes $62,629.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1986
$1.00
$6.26
$5.00
$31.31
$10.00
$62.63
$20.00
$125
$50.00
$313
$100
$626
$500
$3,131
$1,000
$6,263
$5,000
$31,314
$10,000
$62,629
$100,000
$626,286
$1,000,000
$6,262,857
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1986
Between 1925 and 1986, food rose the most, up 560.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 302.7%, against 526.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.05%
$626
Food
3.14%
$661
Apparel
2.31%
$403
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 1986
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 1925–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$626
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $153 by
1955, on its way to $626 in 1986; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $626; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1986: $100 is worth $626 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1986/