$100 in 1925 is worth $931 in 1998,
because prices increased 831.4% over that period, an average of
3.10% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$931
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
831.4%
Average inflation rate
3.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$931
Price difference ($100 base)
$831
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1925 → 1998
$931
$100 in 1998 → 1925
$10.74
What happened to prices between 1925 and 1998
Between 1925 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 831.4%, which works out to an average of
3.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1998: the 1925 dollar
lost 89.3% of its purchasing power over
these 73 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 1998 at the same ratio, 9.31: $1,000 becomes
$9,314, and $10,000 becomes $93,143.
Amount in 1925
Value in 1998
$1.00
$9.31
$5.00
$46.57
$10.00
$93.14
$20.00
$186
$50.00
$466
$100
$931
$500
$4,657
$1,000
$9,314
$5,000
$46,571
$10,000
$93,143
$100,000
$931,429
$1,000,000
$9,314,286
Inflation by spending category, 1925–1998
Between 1925 and 1998, food rose the most, up 873.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 405.7%, against 831.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.10%
$931
Food
3.17%
$974
Apparel
2.25%
$506
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 1998
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 1925–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$931
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $169 by
1960, on its way to $931 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $931; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 1998: $100 is worth $931 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-1998/