$100 in 1971 is worth $366 in 1994,
because prices increased 265.9% over that period, an average of
5.80% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$366
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
265.9%
Average inflation rate
5.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$366
Price difference ($100 base)
$266
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1971 → 1994
$366
$100 in 1994 → 1971
$27.33
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1994
Between 1971 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 265.9%, which works out to an average of
5.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1994: the 1971 dollar
lost 72.7% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 1994 at the same ratio, 3.66: $1,000 becomes
$3,659, and $10,000 becomes $36,593.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1994
$1.00
$3.66
$5.00
$18.30
$10.00
$36.59
$20.00
$73.19
$50.00
$183
$100
$366
$500
$1,830
$1,000
$3,659
$5,000
$18,296
$10,000
$36,593
$100,000
$365,926
$1,000,000
$3,659,259
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1994
Between 1971 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 484.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 118.3%, against 265.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.80%
$366
Medical care
7.98%
$584
Energy
6.15%
$395
Housing
5.99%
$381
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.81%
$367
Food
5.69%
$357
Transportation
5.46%
$340
Apparel
3.45%
$218
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 1994
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.19% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$366
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $238 by
1982, on its way to $366 in 1994; 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 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $366; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 1994: $100 is worth $366 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1994/