$100 in 1971 is worth $723 in 2022,
because prices increased 622.6% over that period, an average of
3.95% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$723
in 2022
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
622.6%
Average inflation rate
3.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$723
Price difference ($100 base)
$623
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 2022
292.655
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 2022
8.00%
$100 in 1971 → 2022
$723
$100 in 2022 → 1971
$13.84
What happened to prices between 1971 and 2022
Between 1971 and 2022, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 292.655.
Cumulatively, prices increased 622.6%, which works out to an average of
3.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2022: the 1971 dollar
lost 86.2% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2022 at the same ratio, 7.23: $1,000 becomes
$7,226, and $10,000 becomes $72,260.
Amount in 1971
Value in 2022
$1.00
$7.23
$5.00
$36.13
$10.00
$72.26
$20.00
$145
$50.00
$361
$100
$723
$500
$3,613
$1,000
$7,226
$5,000
$36,130
$10,000
$72,260
$100,000
$722,605
$1,000,000
$7,226,049
Inflation by spending category, 1971–2022
Between 1971 and 2022, medical care rose the most, up 1414.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 108.0%, against 622.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 2022, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.95%
$723
Medical care
5.47%
$1,514
Energy
4.86%
$1,126
Housing
4.14%
$792
Food
4.05%
$756
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.86%
$689
Transportation
3.81%
$674
Apparel
1.45%
$208
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 2022
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–2022 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$538
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$639
2020–2022
6.34%
13.1%
$723
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $396 by
1997, on its way to $723 in 2022; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2022
In 2022, prices rose 8.0% and $100 from 1971 had the buying
power of $723; the year's average CPI of 292.655 is the level
behind every 2022 figure on this page.
2022 was the year inflation returned. Consumer prices rose 8.0% on average,
the worst since 1981, driven by pandemic-era supply chains, stimulus-fueled
demand, and an energy shock from the war in Ukraine. Gas briefly topped $5 a
gallon nationally for the first time ever, and “inflation” became the
top-ranked economic concern in nearly every poll of American households.
MLA: “Inflation from 1971 to 2022: $100 is worth $723 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-2022/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 2022. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-2022/