$100 in 1971 is worth $532 in 2008,
because prices increased 431.6% over that period, an average of
4.62% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$532
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
431.6%
Average inflation rate
4.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$532
Price difference ($100 base)
$432
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1971 → 2008
$532
$100 in 2008 → 1971
$18.81
What happened to prices between 1971 and 2008
Between 1971 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 431.6%, which works out to an average of
4.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.19 buys in 2008: the 1971 dollar
lost 81.2% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2008 at the same ratio, 5.32: $1,000 becomes
$5,316, and $10,000 becomes $53,161.
Amount in 1971
Value in 2008
$1.00
$5.32
$5.00
$26.58
$10.00
$53.16
$20.00
$106
$50.00
$266
$100
$532
$500
$2,658
$1,000
$5,316
$5,000
$26,581
$10,000
$53,161
$100,000
$531,612
$1,000,000
$5,316,123
Inflation by spending category, 1971–2008
Between 1971 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 908.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 94.6%, against 431.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.62%
$532
Medical care
6.45%
$1,008
Energy
6.10%
$893
Housing
4.81%
$569
Food
4.61%
$530
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.47%
$505
Transportation
4.42%
$495
Apparel
1.82%
$195
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 2008
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 1971–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$532
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $306 by
1989, on its way to $532 in 2008; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $532; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 2008: $100 is worth $532 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-2008/