$100 in 1972 is worth $412 in 2000,
because prices increased 312.0% over that period, an average of
5.19% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$412
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
312.0%
Average inflation rate
5.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$412
Price difference ($100 base)
$312
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1972 → 2000
$412
$100 in 2000 → 1972
$24.27
What happened to prices between 1972 and 2000
Between 1972 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 312.0%, which works out to an average of
5.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2000: the 1972 dollar
lost 75.7% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 2000 at the same ratio, 4.12: $1,000 becomes
$4,120, and $10,000 becomes $41,196.
Amount in 1972
Value in 2000
$1.00
$4.12
$5.00
$20.60
$10.00
$41.20
$20.00
$82.39
$50.00
$206
$100
$412
$500
$2,060
$1,000
$4,120
$5,000
$20,598
$10,000
$41,196
$100,000
$411,962
$1,000,000
$4,119,617
Inflation by spending category, 1972–2000
Between 1972 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 599.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 108.0%, against 312.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.19%
$412
Medical care
7.19%
$699
Energy
5.59%
$458
Housing
5.35%
$430
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.19%
$412
Food
5.06%
$399
Transportation
4.92%
$384
Apparel
2.65%
$208
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.85% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1972–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$412
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $262 by
1986, on its way to $412 in 2000; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $412; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 2000: $100 is worth $412 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2000/