$100 in 1925 is worth $1,312 in 2012,
because prices increased 1212.0% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,312
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1212.0%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,312
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,212
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1925 → 2012
$1,312
$100 in 2012 → 1925
$7.62
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2012
Between 1925 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1212.0%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2012: the 1925 dollar
lost 92.4% of its purchasing power over
these 87 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 2012 at the same ratio, 13.12: $1,000 becomes
$13,120, and $10,000 becomes $131,197.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2012
$1.00
$13.12
$5.00
$65.60
$10.00
$131
$20.00
$262
$50.00
$656
$100
$1,312
$500
$6,560
$1,000
$13,120
$5,000
$65,598
$10,000
$131,197
$100,000
$1,311,966
$1,000,000
$13,119,657
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2012
Between 1925 and 2012, food rose the most, up 1316.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 380.1%, against 1212.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$1,312
Food
3.09%
$1,417
Apparel
1.82%
$480
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 2012
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 1925–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$1,312
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $222 by
1970, on its way to $1,312 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,312; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2012: $100 is worth $1,312 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2012/