$100 in 1925 is worth $917 in 1997,
because prices increased 817.1% over that period, an average of
3.13% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$917
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
817.1%
Average inflation rate
3.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$917
Price difference ($100 base)
$817
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1925 → 1997
$917
$100 in 1997 → 1925
$10.90
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1997
Between 1925 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 817.1%, which works out to an average of
3.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1997: the 1925 dollar
lost 89.1% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 1997 at the same ratio, 9.17: $1,000 becomes
$9,171, and $10,000 becomes $91,714.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1997
$1.00
$9.17
$5.00
$45.86
$10.00
$91.71
$20.00
$183
$50.00
$459
$100
$917
$500
$4,586
$1,000
$9,171
$5,000
$45,857
$10,000
$91,714
$100,000
$917,143
$1,000,000
$9,171,429
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1997
Between 1925 and 1997, food rose the most, up 853.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 405.3%, against 817.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.13%
$917
Food
3.18%
$953
Apparel
2.28%
$505
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 1997
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 1925–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$917
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $169 by
1960, on its way to $917 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $917; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1997: $100 is worth $917 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1997/