$100 in 1925 is worth $1,012 in 2001,
because prices increased 912.0% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,012
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
912.0%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,012
Price difference ($100 base)
$912
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1925 → 2001
$1,012
$100 in 2001 → 1925
$9.88
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2001
Between 1925 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 912.0%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2001: the 1925 dollar
lost 90.1% of its purchasing power over
these 76 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 2001 at the same ratio, 10.12: $1,000 becomes
$10,120, and $10,000 becomes $101,200.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2001
$1.00
$10.12
$5.00
$50.60
$10.00
$101
$20.00
$202
$50.00
$506
$100
$1,012
$500
$5,060
$1,000
$10,120
$5,000
$50,600
$10,000
$101,200
$100,000
$1,012,000
$1,000,000
$10,120,000
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2001
Between 1925 and 2001, food rose the most, up 949.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 384.0%, against 912.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$1,012
Food
3.14%
$1,049
Apparel
2.10%
$484
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 2001
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 1925–2001 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$984
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$1,012
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $180 by
1965, on its way to $1,012 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,012; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2001: $100 is worth $1,012 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2001/