$100 in 1925 is worth $1,793 in 2024,
because prices increased 1692.5% over that period, an average of
2.96% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,793
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1692.5%
Average inflation rate
2.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,793
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,693
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1925 → 2024
$1,793
$100 in 2024 → 1925
$5.58
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2024
Between 1925 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1692.5%, which works out to an average of
2.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.06 buys in 2024: the 1925 dollar
lost 94.4% of its purchasing power over
these 99 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 2024 at the same ratio, 17.93: $1,000 becomes
$17,925, and $10,000 becomes $179,251.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2024
$1.00
$17.93
$5.00
$89.63
$10.00
$179
$20.00
$359
$50.00
$896
$100
$1,793
$500
$8,963
$1,000
$17,925
$5,000
$89,625
$10,000
$179,251
$100,000
$1,792,509
$1,000,000
$17,925,086
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2024
Between 1925 and 2024, food rose the most, up 1901.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 399.9%, against 1692.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.96%
$1,793
Food
3.07%
$2,002
Apparel
1.64%
$500
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 2024
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 1925–2024 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
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$1,793
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $307 by
1975, on its way to $1,793 in 2024; 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,793; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2024: $100 is worth $1,793 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2024/