$100 in 1925 is worth $1,185 in 2007,
because prices increased 1084.8% over that period, an average of
3.06% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,185
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1084.8%
Average inflation rate
3.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,185
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,085
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1925 → 2007
$1,185
$100 in 2007 → 1925
$8.44
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2007
Between 1925 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1084.8%, which works out to an average of
3.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2007: the 1925 dollar
lost 91.6% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2007 at the same ratio, 11.85: $1,000 becomes
$11,848, and $10,000 becomes $118,481.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2007
$1.00
$11.85
$5.00
$59.24
$10.00
$118
$20.00
$237
$50.00
$592
$100
$1,185
$500
$5,924
$1,000
$11,848
$5,000
$59,241
$10,000
$118,481
$100,000
$1,184,811
$1,000,000
$11,848,114
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2007
Between 1925 and 2007, food rose the most, up 1129.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 352.5%, against 1084.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.06%
$1,185
Food
3.11%
$1,230
Apparel
1.86%
$452
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 2007
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 1925–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$1,185
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $180 by
1965, on its way to $1,185 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,185; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2007: $100 is worth $1,185 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2007/