$100 in 1971 is worth $396 in 1997,
because prices increased 296.3% over that period, an average of
5.44% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$396
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
296.3%
Average inflation rate
5.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$396
Price difference ($100 base)
$296
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1971 → 1997
$396
$100 in 1997 → 1971
$25.23
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1997
Between 1971 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 296.3%, which works out to an average of
5.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.25 buys in 1997: the 1971 dollar
lost 74.8% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 1997 at the same ratio, 3.96: $1,000 becomes
$3,963, and $10,000 becomes $39,630.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1997
$1.00
$3.96
$5.00
$19.81
$10.00
$39.63
$20.00
$79.26
$50.00
$198
$100
$396
$500
$1,981
$1,000
$3,963
$5,000
$19,815
$10,000
$39,630
$100,000
$396,296
$1,000,000
$3,962,963
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1997
Between 1971 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 549.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 117.5%, against 296.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.44%
$396
Medical care
7.46%
$650
Energy
5.68%
$421
Housing
5.60%
$413
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.45%
$397
Food
5.37%
$389
Transportation
5.11%
$365
Apparel
3.03%
$218
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.98% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$396
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $257 by
1984, on its way to $396 in 1997; 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 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $396; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 1997: $100 is worth $396 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1997/