$100 in 1925 is worth $1,672 in 2022,
because prices increased 1572.3% over that period, an average of
2.95% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,672
in 2022
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1572.3%
Average inflation rate
2.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,672
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,572
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2022
292.655
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2022
8.00%
$100 in 1925 → 2022
$1,672
$100 in 2022 → 1925
$5.98
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2022
Between 1925 and 2022, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 292.655.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1572.3%, which works out to an average of
2.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2022: the 1925 dollar
lost 94.0% of its purchasing power over
these 97 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 2022 at the same ratio, 16.72: $1,000 becomes
$16,723, and $10,000 becomes $167,231.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2022
$1.00
$16.72
$5.00
$83.62
$10.00
$167
$20.00
$334
$50.00
$836
$100
$1,672
$500
$8,362
$1,000
$16,723
$5,000
$83,616
$10,000
$167,231
$100,000
$1,672,314
$1,000,000
$16,723,143
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2022
Between 1925 and 2022, food rose the most, up 1750.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 383.2%, against 1572.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2022, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.95%
$1,672
Food
3.05%
$1,851
Apparel
1.64%
$483
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 2022
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 1925–2022 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$1,479
2020–2022
6.34%
13.1%
$1,672
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $307 by
1975, on its way to $1,672 in 2022; 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: 2022
In 2022, prices rose 8.0% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,672; the year's average CPI of 292.655 is the level
behind every 2022 figure on this page.
2022 was the year inflation returned. Consumer prices rose 8.0% on average,
the worst since 1981, driven by pandemic-era supply chains, stimulus-fueled
demand, and an energy shock from the war in Ukraine. Gas briefly topped $5 a
gallon nationally for the first time ever, and “inflation” became the
top-ranked economic concern in nearly every poll of American households.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2022: $100 is worth $1,672 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2022/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2022. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2022/