$100 in 1925 is worth $1,461 in 2019,
because prices increased 1360.9% over that period, an average of
2.89% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,461
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1360.9%
Average inflation rate
2.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,461
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,361
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1925 → 2019
$1,461
$100 in 2019 → 1925
$6.85
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2019
Between 1925 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1360.9%, which works out to an average of
2.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.07 buys in 2019: the 1925 dollar
lost 93.2% of its purchasing power over
these 94 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 2019 at the same ratio, 14.61: $1,000 becomes
$14,609, and $10,000 becomes $146,090.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2019
$1.00
$14.61
$5.00
$73.04
$10.00
$146
$20.00
$292
$50.00
$730
$100
$1,461
$500
$7,304
$1,000
$14,609
$5,000
$73,045
$10,000
$146,090
$100,000
$1,460,897
$1,000,000
$14,608,971
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2019
Between 1925 and 2019, food rose the most, up 1465.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 371.7%, against 1360.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.89%
$1,461
Food
2.97%
$1,566
Apparel
1.66%
$472
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 2019
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 1925–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,461
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $222 by
1970, on its way to $1,461 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,461; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,461 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2019/