$100 in 1971 is worth $150 in 1977,
because prices increased 49.6% over that period, an average of
6.95% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$150
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
49.6%
Average inflation rate
6.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$150
Price difference ($100 base)
$49.63
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1971 → 1977
$150
$100 in 1977 → 1971
$66.83
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1977
Between 1971 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 49.6%, which works out to an average of
6.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.67 buys in 1977: the 1971 dollar
lost 33.2% of its purchasing power over
these 6 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 1977 at the same ratio, 1.50: $1,000 becomes
$1,496, and $10,000 becomes $14,963.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1977
$1.00
$1.50
$5.00
$7.48
$10.00
$14.96
$20.00
$29.93
$50.00
$74.81
$100
$150
$500
$748
$1,000
$1,496
$5,000
$7,481
$10,000
$14,963
$100,000
$149,630
$1,000,000
$1,496,296
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1977
Between 1971 and 1977, energy rose the most, up 86.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 28.6%, against 49.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.95%
$150
Energy
10.94%
$186
Food
8.39%
$162
Medical care
7.91%
$158
Housing
7.12%
$151
Transportation
6.92%
$149
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.12%
$143
Apparel
4.29%
$129
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 $122 by
1974, on its way to $150 in 1977; 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 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $150; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 1977: $100 is worth $150 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1977/