$100 in 1971 is worth $323 in 1990,
because prices increased 222.7% over that period, an average of
6.36% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$323
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
222.7%
Average inflation rate
6.36% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$323
Price difference ($100 base)
$223
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1971 → 1990
$323
$100 in 1990 → 1971
$30.99
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1990
Between 1971 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 222.7%, which works out to an average of
6.36% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1990: the 1971 dollar
lost 69.0% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1990 at the same ratio, 3.23: $1,000 becomes
$3,227, and $10,000 becomes $32,272.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1990
$1.00
$3.23
$5.00
$16.14
$10.00
$32.27
$20.00
$64.54
$50.00
$161
$100
$323
$500
$1,614
$1,000
$3,227
$5,000
$16,136
$10,000
$32,272
$100,000
$322,716
$1,000,000
$3,227,160
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1990
Between 1971 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 351.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 103.1%, against 222.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.36%
$323
Medical care
8.25%
$451
Energy
7.36%
$385
Housing
6.62%
$338
Food
6.45%
$328
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.27%
$317
Transportation
6.05%
$305
Apparel
3.80%
$203
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 1990
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–1990 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1971, at end
1971–1980
8.21%
103.5%
$203
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$323
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $203 by
1980, on its way to $323 in 1990; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $323; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 1990: $100 is worth $323 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1990/