$100 in 1925 is worth $897 in 1996,
because prices increased 796.6% over that period, an average of
3.14% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$897
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
796.6%
Average inflation rate
3.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$897
Price difference ($100 base)
$797
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1925 → 1996
$897
$100 in 1996 → 1925
$11.15
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1996
Between 1925 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 796.6%, which works out to an average of
3.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1996: the 1925 dollar
lost 88.8% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 1996 at the same ratio, 8.97: $1,000 becomes
$8,966, and $10,000 becomes $89,657.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1996
$1.00
$8.97
$5.00
$44.83
$10.00
$89.66
$20.00
$179
$50.00
$448
$100
$897
$500
$4,483
$1,000
$8,966
$5,000
$44,829
$10,000
$89,657
$100,000
$896,571
$1,000,000
$8,965,714
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1996
Between 1925 and 1996, food rose the most, up 829.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 400.8%, against 796.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.14%
$897
Food
3.19%
$929
Apparel
2.29%
$501
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 1996
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 1925–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$897
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $169 by
1960, on its way to $897 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $897; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1996: $100 is worth $897 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1996/