$100 in 1925 is worth $847 in 1994,
because prices increased 746.9% over that period, an average of
3.14% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$847
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
746.9%
Average inflation rate
3.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$847
Price difference ($100 base)
$747
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1925 → 1994
$847
$100 in 1994 → 1925
$11.81
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1994
Between 1925 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 746.9%, which works out to an average of
3.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1994: the 1925 dollar
lost 88.2% of its purchasing power over
these 69 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 1994 at the same ratio, 8.47: $1,000 becomes
$8,469, and $10,000 becomes $84,686.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1994
$1.00
$8.47
$5.00
$42.34
$10.00
$84.69
$20.00
$169
$50.00
$423
$100
$847
$500
$4,234
$1,000
$8,469
$5,000
$42,343
$10,000
$84,686
$100,000
$846,857
$1,000,000
$8,468,571
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1994
Between 1925 and 1994, food rose the most, up 774.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 407.2%, against 746.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.14%
$847
Food
3.19%
$875
Apparel
2.38%
$507
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 1994
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 1925–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$847
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $169 by
1960, on its way to $847 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $847; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1994: $100 is worth $847 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1994/