$100 in 1925 is worth $747 in 1990,
because prices increased 646.9% over that period, an average of
3.14% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$747
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
646.9%
Average inflation rate
3.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$747
Price difference ($100 base)
$647
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1925 → 1990
$747
$100 in 1990 → 1925
$13.39
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1990
Between 1925 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 646.9%, which works out to an average of
3.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1990: the 1925 dollar
lost 86.6% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 1990 at the same ratio, 7.47: $1,000 becomes
$7,469, and $10,000 becomes $74,686.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1990
$1.00
$7.47
$5.00
$37.34
$10.00
$74.69
$20.00
$149
$50.00
$373
$100
$747
$500
$3,734
$1,000
$7,469
$5,000
$37,343
$10,000
$74,686
$100,000
$746,857
$1,000,000
$7,468,571
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1990
Between 1925 and 1990, food rose the most, up 702.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 371.9%, against 646.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.14%
$747
Food
3.26%
$802
Apparel
2.42%
$472
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 1990
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 1925–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$747
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $153 by
1955, on its way to $747 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $747; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1990: $100 is worth $747 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1990/