$100 in 1972 is worth $283 in 1988,
because prices increased 183.0% over that period, an average of
6.72% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$283
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
183.0%
Average inflation rate
6.72% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$283
Price difference ($100 base)
$183
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1972 → 1988
$283
$100 in 1988 → 1972
$35.33
What happened to prices between 1972 and 1988
Between 1972 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 183.0%, which works out to an average of
6.72% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1988: the 1972 dollar
lost 64.7% of its purchasing power over
these 16 years.
Consumer prices rose just 3.2% in 1972, the calmest year of the decade and a
sharp break from the previous two years. The relief was largely engineered:
Nixon’s wage and price controls, imposed as a 90-day freeze in August 1971,
had settled into a series of “phases” that capped how much businesses could
raise prices through the election year. Economists would later argue the
controls mostly deferred inflation rather than curing it, storing up pressure
that broke loose once they were lifted. Nixon spent political capital on
foreign policy that year, traveling to Beijing that February in the first
visit by a sitting U.S. president to the People’s Republic of China, a trip
that began normalizing relations Washington had frozen since 1949. Closer to
home, five men were arrested breaking into the Democratic National
Committee’s offices at the Watergate complex that June 17, an event that drew
little attention at the time but would eventually force Nixon from office.
None of it dented his re-election bid: Nixon carried 49 states against
Democrat George McGovern that November, helped by an economy that, on paper,
looked more stable than it had in years. A median household earned $9,697 in
1972, a new home sold for a median $27,600, and gas held near 36 cents a
gallon for a third straight year. Consumer prices stood 322.2% above their
1913 level, a lull that would not survive contact with the
controls’ expiration and the oil shock still to come.
Every 1972 amount converts to 1988 at the same ratio, 2.83: $1,000 becomes
$2,830, and $10,000 becomes $28,301.
Amount in 1972
Value in 1988
$1.00
$2.83
$5.00
$14.15
$10.00
$28.30
$20.00
$56.60
$50.00
$142
$100
$283
$500
$1,415
$1,000
$2,830
$5,000
$14,151
$10,000
$28,301
$100,000
$283,014
$1,000,000
$2,830,144
Inflation by spending category, 1972–1988
Between 1972 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 271.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 85.2%, against 183.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.72%
$283
Medical care
8.55%
$372
Energy
7.71%
$328
Housing
7.12%
$301
Food
6.66%
$281
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.66%
$280
Transportation
6.46%
$272
Apparel
3.93%
$185
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 1988
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.85% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.62% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1972–1988 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1972, at end
1972–1980
8.85%
97.1%
$197
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$283
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $197 by
1980, on its way to $283 in 1988; 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 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $283; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 1988: $100 is worth $283 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1988/