$100 in 1925 is worth $1,028 in 2002,
because prices increased 928.0% over that period, an average of
3.07% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,028
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
928.0%
Average inflation rate
3.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,028
Price difference ($100 base)
$928
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1925 → 2002
$1,028
$100 in 2002 → 1925
$9.73
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2002
Between 1925 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 928.0%, which works out to an average of
3.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2002: the 1925 dollar
lost 90.3% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 2002 at the same ratio, 10.28: $1,000 becomes
$10,280, and $10,000 becomes $102,800.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2002
$1.00
$10.28
$5.00
$51.40
$10.00
$103
$20.00
$206
$50.00
$514
$100
$1,028
$500
$5,140
$1,000
$10,280
$5,000
$51,400
$10,000
$102,800
$100,000
$1,028,000
$1,000,000
$10,280,000
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2002
Between 1925 and 2002, food rose the most, up 967.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 371.5%, against 928.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.07%
$1,028
Food
3.12%
$1,068
Apparel
2.03%
$471
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 2002
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 1925–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$1,028
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $180 by
1965, on its way to $1,028 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,028; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2002: $100 is worth $1,028 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2002/