$100 in 1972 is worth $313 in 1990,
because prices increased 212.7% over that period, an average of
6.54% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$313
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
212.7%
Average inflation rate
6.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$313
Price difference ($100 base)
$213
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1972 → 1990
$313
$100 in 1990 → 1972
$31.98
What happened to prices between 1972 and 1990
Between 1972 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 212.7%, which works out to an average of
6.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1990: the 1972 dollar
lost 68.0% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1990 at the same ratio, 3.13: $1,000 becomes
$3,127, and $10,000 becomes $31,268.
Amount in 1972
Value in 1990
$1.00
$3.13
$5.00
$15.63
$10.00
$31.27
$20.00
$62.54
$50.00
$156
$100
$313
$500
$1,563
$1,000
$3,127
$5,000
$15,634
$10,000
$31,268
$100,000
$312,679
$1,000,000
$3,126,794
Inflation by spending category, 1972–1990
Between 1972 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 336.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 99.2%, against 212.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.54%
$313
Medical care
8.53%
$436
Energy
7.63%
$375
Housing
6.79%
$326
Food
6.57%
$314
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.45%
$308
Transportation
6.33%
$302
Apparel
3.90%
$199
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 1990
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.85% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1972–1990 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1972, at end
1972–1980
8.85%
97.1%
$197
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$313
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $217 by
1981, on its way to $313 in 1990; 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 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $313; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 1990: $100 is worth $313 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1990/