$100 in 1925 is worth $802 in 1992,
because prices increased 701.7% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$802
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
701.7%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$802
Price difference ($100 base)
$702
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1925 → 1992
$802
$100 in 1992 → 1925
$12.47
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1992
Between 1925 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 701.7%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1992: the 1925 dollar
lost 87.5% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 1992 at the same ratio, 8.02: $1,000 becomes
$8,017, and $10,000 becomes $80,171.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1992
$1.00
$8.02
$5.00
$40.09
$10.00
$80.17
$20.00
$160
$50.00
$401
$100
$802
$500
$4,009
$1,000
$8,017
$5,000
$40,086
$10,000
$80,171
$100,000
$801,714
$1,000,000
$8,017,143
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1992
Between 1925 and 1992, food rose the most, up 735.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 401.5%, against 701.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$802
Food
3.22%
$836
Apparel
2.44%
$502
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 1992
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 1925–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$802
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $169 by
1960, on its way to $802 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $802; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1992: $100 is worth $802 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1992/