$100 in 1971 is worth $425 in 2000,
because prices increased 325.2% over that period, an average of
5.12% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$425
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
325.2%
Average inflation rate
5.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$425
Price difference ($100 base)
$325
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1971 → 2000
$425
$100 in 2000 → 1971
$23.52
What happened to prices between 1971 and 2000
Between 1971 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 325.2%, which works out to an average of
5.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2000: the 1971 dollar
lost 76.5% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2000 at the same ratio, 4.25: $1,000 becomes
$4,252, and $10,000 becomes $42,519.
Amount in 1971
Value in 2000
$1.00
$4.25
$5.00
$21.26
$10.00
$42.52
$20.00
$85.04
$50.00
$213
$100
$425
$500
$2,126
$1,000
$4,252
$5,000
$21,259
$10,000
$42,519
$100,000
$425,185
$1,000,000
$4,251,852
Inflation by spending category, 1971–2000
Between 1971 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 622.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 112.1%, against 325.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.12%
$425
Medical care
7.06%
$722
Energy
5.48%
$470
Housing
5.29%
$446
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.11%
$425
Food
5.03%
$415
Transportation
4.79%
$388
Apparel
2.63%
$212
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$425
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $266 by
1985, on its way to $425 in 2000; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $425; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 2000: $100 is worth $425 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-2000/