$100 in 1971 is worth $336 in 1991,
because prices increased 236.3% over that period, an average of
6.25% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$336
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
236.3%
Average inflation rate
6.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$336
Price difference ($100 base)
$236
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1971 → 1991
$336
$100 in 1991 → 1971
$29.74
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1991
Between 1971 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 236.3%, which works out to an average of
6.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1991: the 1971 dollar
lost 70.3% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 1991 at the same ratio, 3.36: $1,000 becomes
$3,363, and $10,000 becomes $33,630.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1991
$1.00
$3.36
$5.00
$16.81
$10.00
$33.63
$20.00
$67.26
$50.00
$168
$100
$336
$500
$1,681
$1,000
$3,363
$5,000
$16,815
$10,000
$33,630
$100,000
$336,296
$1,000,000
$3,362,963
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1991
Between 1971 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 390.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 110.6%, against 236.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.25%
$336
Medical care
8.27%
$490
Energy
7.00%
$387
Housing
6.49%
$352
Food
6.27%
$337
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.20%
$333
Transportation
5.88%
$313
Apparel
3.80%
$211
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (4.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$336
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $224 by
1981, on its way to $336 in 1991; 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 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $336; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 1991: $100 is worth $336 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1991/