$100 in 1971 is worth $376 in 1995,
because prices increased 276.3% over that period, an average of
5.68% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$376
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
276.3%
Average inflation rate
5.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$376
Price difference ($100 base)
$276
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1971 → 1995
$376
$100 in 1995 → 1971
$26.57
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1995
Between 1971 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 276.3%, which works out to an average of
5.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1995: the 1971 dollar
lost 73.4% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 1995 at the same ratio, 3.76: $1,000 becomes
$3,763, and $10,000 becomes $37,630.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1995
$1.00
$3.76
$5.00
$18.81
$10.00
$37.63
$20.00
$75.26
$50.00
$188
$100
$376
$500
$1,881
$1,000
$3,763
$5,000
$18,815
$10,000
$37,630
$100,000
$376,296
$1,000,000
$3,762,963
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1995
Between 1971 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 510.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 116.0%, against 276.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.68%
$376
Medical care
7.83%
$611
Energy
5.91%
$397
Housing
5.84%
$391
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.69%
$378
Food
5.57%
$367
Transportation
5.39%
$352
Apparel
3.26%
$216
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$376
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $246 by
1983, on its way to $376 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $376; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 1995: $100 is worth $376 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1995/