$100 in 1972 is worth $336 in 1992,
because prices increased 235.6% over that period, an average of
6.24% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$336
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
235.6%
Average inflation rate
6.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$336
Price difference ($100 base)
$236
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1972 → 1992
$336
$100 in 1992 → 1972
$29.79
What happened to prices between 1972 and 1992
Between 1972 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 235.6%, which works out to an average of
6.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1992: the 1972 dollar
lost 70.2% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 1992 at the same ratio, 3.36: $1,000 becomes
$3,356, and $10,000 becomes $33,565.
Amount in 1972
Value in 1992
$1.00
$3.36
$5.00
$16.78
$10.00
$33.56
$20.00
$67.13
$50.00
$168
$100
$336
$500
$1,678
$1,000
$3,356
$5,000
$16,782
$10,000
$33,565
$100,000
$335,646
$1,000,000
$3,356,459
Inflation by spending category, 1972–1992
Between 1972 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 409.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 111.7%, against 235.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.24%
$336
Medical care
8.48%
$510
Energy
6.88%
$379
Housing
6.45%
$349
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.23%
$335
Food
6.11%
$328
Transportation
5.94%
$317
Apparel
3.82%
$212
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 1992
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.85% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1972–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$336
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $231 by
1982, on its way to $336 in 1992; 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 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $336; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 1992: $100 is worth $336 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1992/