$100 in 1925 is worth $1,285 in 2011,
because prices increased 1185.4% over that period, an average of
3.01% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,285
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1185.4%
Average inflation rate
3.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,285
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,185
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1925 → 2011
$1,285
$100 in 2011 → 1925
$7.78
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2011
Between 1925 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1185.4%, which works out to an average of
3.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2011: the 1925 dollar
lost 92.2% of its purchasing power over
these 86 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 2011 at the same ratio, 12.85: $1,000 becomes
$12,854, and $10,000 becomes $128,537.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2011
$1.00
$12.85
$5.00
$64.27
$10.00
$129
$20.00
$257
$50.00
$643
$100
$1,285
$500
$6,427
$1,000
$12,854
$5,000
$64,268
$10,000
$128,537
$100,000
$1,285,366
$1,000,000
$12,853,657
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2011
Between 1925 and 2011, food rose the most, up 1280.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 364.3%, against 1185.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.01%
$1,285
Food
3.10%
$1,381
Apparel
1.80%
$464
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 2011
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 1925–2011 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,246
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$1,285
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $222 by
1970, on its way to $1,285 in 2011; 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: 2011
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,285; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2011: $100 is worth $1,285 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2011/