$100 in 1971 is worth $140 in 1976,
because prices increased 40.5% over that period, an average of
7.04% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$140
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
40.5%
Average inflation rate
7.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$140
Price difference ($100 base)
$40.49
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1971 → 1976
$140
$100 in 1976 → 1971
$71.18
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1976
Between 1971 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 40.5%, which works out to an average of
7.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.71 buys in 1976: the 1971 dollar
lost 28.8% of its purchasing power over
these 5 years.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
Every 1971 amount converts to 1976 at the same ratio, 1.40: $1,000 becomes
$1,405, and $10,000 becomes $14,049.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1976
$1.00
$1.40
$5.00
$7.02
$10.00
$14.05
$20.00
$28.10
$50.00
$70.25
$100
$140
$500
$702
$1,000
$1,405
$5,000
$7,025
$10,000
$14,049
$100,000
$140,494
$1,000,000
$1,404,938
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1976
Between 1971 and 1976, energy rose the most, up 70.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 23.1%, against 40.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.04%
$140
Energy
11.22%
$170
Food
8.80%
$152
Medical care
7.57%
$144
Housing
7.20%
$142
Transportation
6.88%
$139
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.10%
$134
Apparel
4.24%
$123
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $110 by
1973, on its way to $140 in 1976; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 3.2% in 1972.
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $140; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 1976: $100 is worth $140 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1976/