$100 in 1925 is worth $778 in 1991,
because prices increased 678.3% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$778
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
678.3%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$778
Price difference ($100 base)
$678
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1925 → 1991
$778
$100 in 1991 → 1925
$12.85
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1991
Between 1925 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 678.3%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1991: the 1925 dollar
lost 87.2% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 1991 at the same ratio, 7.78: $1,000 becomes
$7,783, and $10,000 becomes $77,829.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1991
$1.00
$7.78
$5.00
$38.91
$10.00
$77.83
$20.00
$156
$50.00
$389
$100
$778
$500
$3,891
$1,000
$7,783
$5,000
$38,914
$10,000
$77,829
$100,000
$778,286
$1,000,000
$7,782,857
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1991
Between 1925 and 1991, food rose the most, up 726.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 389.4%, against 678.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$778
Food
3.25%
$826
Apparel
2.44%
$489
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 1991
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 1925–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$778
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $169 by
1960, on its way to $778 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $778; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1991: $100 is worth $778 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1991/