$100 in 1972 is worth $424 in 2001,
because prices increased 323.7% over that period, an average of
5.10% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$424
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
323.7%
Average inflation rate
5.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$424
Price difference ($100 base)
$324
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1972 → 2001
$424
$100 in 2001 → 1972
$23.60
What happened to prices between 1972 and 2001
Between 1972 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 323.7%, which works out to an average of
5.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2001: the 1972 dollar
lost 76.4% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2001 at the same ratio, 4.24: $1,000 becomes
$4,237, and $10,000 becomes $42,368.
Amount in 1972
Value in 2001
$1.00
$4.24
$5.00
$21.18
$10.00
$42.37
$20.00
$84.74
$50.00
$212
$100
$424
$500
$2,118
$1,000
$4,237
$5,000
$21,184
$10,000
$42,368
$100,000
$423,684
$1,000,000
$4,236,842
Inflation by spending category, 1972–2001
Between 1972 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 631.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 104.3%, against 323.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.10%
$424
Medical care
7.10%
$731
Energy
5.52%
$475
Housing
5.30%
$448
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.10%
$423
Food
5.00%
$411
Transportation
4.77%
$387
Apparel
2.49%
$204
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 2001
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 1972–2001 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
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$424
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $262 by
1986, on its way to $424 in 2001; 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 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $424; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 2001: $100 is worth $424 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2001/