$100 in 1925 is worth $1,401 in 2017,
because prices increased 1300.7% over that period, an average of
2.91% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,401
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1300.7%
Average inflation rate
2.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,401
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,301
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1925 → 2017
$1,401
$100 in 2017 → 1925
$7.14
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2017
Between 1925 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1300.7%, which works out to an average of
2.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2017: the 1925 dollar
lost 92.9% of its purchasing power over
these 92 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 2017 at the same ratio, 14.01: $1,000 becomes
$14,007, and $10,000 becomes $140,069.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2017
$1.00
$14.01
$5.00
$70.03
$10.00
$140
$20.00
$280
$50.00
$700
$100
$1,401
$500
$7,003
$1,000
$14,007
$5,000
$70,034
$10,000
$140,069
$100,000
$1,400,686
$1,000,000
$14,006,857
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2017
Between 1925 and 2017, food rose the most, up 1415.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 377.6%, against 1300.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.91%
$1,401
Food
3.00%
$1,516
Apparel
1.71%
$478
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 2017
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 1925–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$1,401
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $222 by
1970, on its way to $1,401 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,401; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2017: $100 is worth $1,401 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2017/