$100 in 1972 is worth $384 in 1997,
because prices increased 284.0% over that period, an average of
5.53% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$384
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
284.0%
Average inflation rate
5.53% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$384
Price difference ($100 base)
$284
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1972 → 1997
$384
$100 in 1997 → 1972
$26.04
What happened to prices between 1972 and 1997
Between 1972 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 284.0%, which works out to an average of
5.53% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1997: the 1972 dollar
lost 74.0% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1997 at the same ratio, 3.84: $1,000 becomes
$3,840, and $10,000 becomes $38,397.
Amount in 1972
Value in 1997
$1.00
$3.84
$5.00
$19.20
$10.00
$38.40
$20.00
$76.79
$50.00
$192
$100
$384
$500
$1,920
$1,000
$3,840
$5,000
$19,199
$10,000
$38,397
$100,000
$383,971
$1,000,000
$3,839,713
Inflation by spending category, 1972–1997
Between 1972 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 529.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 113.3%, against 284.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.53%
$384
Medical care
7.63%
$629
Energy
5.81%
$410
Housing
5.68%
$398
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.54%
$385
Food
5.41%
$374
Transportation
5.28%
$362
Apparel
3.08%
$213
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.85% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.98% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1972–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$384
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $249 by
1984, on its way to $384 in 1997; 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 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $384; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 1997: $100 is worth $384 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1997/