$100 in 1925 is worth $676 in 1988,
because prices increased 576.0% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$676
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
576.0%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$676
Price difference ($100 base)
$576
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1925 → 1988
$676
$100 in 1988 → 1925
$14.79
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1988
Between 1925 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 576.0%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1988: the 1925 dollar
lost 85.2% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 1988 at the same ratio, 6.76: $1,000 becomes
$6,760, and $10,000 becomes $67,600.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1988
$1.00
$6.76
$5.00
$33.80
$10.00
$67.60
$20.00
$135
$50.00
$338
$100
$676
$500
$3,380
$1,000
$6,760
$5,000
$33,800
$10,000
$67,600
$100,000
$676,000
$1,000,000
$6,760,000
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1988
Between 1925 and 1988, food rose the most, up 616.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 338.8%, against 576.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$676
Food
3.17%
$716
Apparel
2.38%
$439
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 1988
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 1925–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$676
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $153 by
1955, on its way to $676 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $676; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1988: $100 is worth $676 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1988/