$100 in 1925 is worth $1,840 in 2025,
because prices increased 1739.7% over that period, an average of
2.95% a year.
$100 in 1925 has
the same buying power as
$1,840
in 2025
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1739.7%
Average inflation rate
2.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,840
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,740
CPI in 1925
17.5
CPI in 2025
321.943
Inflation in 1925
2.34%
Inflation in 2025
2.63%
$100 in 1925 → 2025
$1,840
$100 in 2025 → 1925
$5.44
What happened to prices between 1925 and 2025
Between 1925 and 2025, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.5 to 321.943.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1739.7%, which works out to an average of
2.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1925 bought what
$0.05 buys in 2025: the 1925 dollar
lost 94.6% of its purchasing power over
these 100 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 2025 at the same ratio, 18.40: $1,000 becomes
$18,397, and $10,000 becomes $183,967.
Amount in 1925
Value in 2025
$1.00
$18.40
$5.00
$91.98
$10.00
$184
$20.00
$368
$50.00
$920
$100
$1,840
$500
$9,198
$1,000
$18,397
$5,000
$91,984
$10,000
$183,967
$100,000
$1,839,674
$1,000,000
$18,396,743
Inflation by spending category, 1925–2025
Between 1925 and 2025, food rose the most, up 1957.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 399.3%, against 1739.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1925
spending costs in 2025, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1925 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.95%
$1,840
Food
3.07%
$2,058
Apparel
1.62%
$499
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 2025
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 1925–2025 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
2020–2025
4.46%
24.4%
$1,840
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1925
$100 from 1925 had already become $307 by
1975, on its way to $1,840 in 2025; 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: 2025
In 2025, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1925 had the buying
power of $1,840; the year's average CPI of 321.943 is the level
behind every 2025 figure on this page.
2025 was a year of trade policy and data disruptions rather than an
inflation surge. Consumer prices rose 2.6% on average, a step down from
2024’s 2.9% and well below the 8.0% of 2022. Tariffs announced in April
pushed up prices for some imported goods, including furniture, apparel, and
auto parts, but the effect on the overall index was smaller than many
forecasters feared at the start of the year, in part because retailers
absorbed some of the cost and demand for services stayed steady.
The Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady through the first half of the
year, then began cutting again in September, lowering it in three quarter-point
steps to 3.50–3.75% by December.
The federal government shutdown that began October 1 lasted 43 days, and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish a CPI for October 2025 because the
survey data could not be collected. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 78 cents in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1925 to 2025: $100 is worth $1,840 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2025/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1925 to 2025. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1925-to-2025/