$100 in 1972 is worth $430 in 2002,
because prices increased 330.4% over that period, an average of
4.99% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$430
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
330.4%
Average inflation rate
4.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$430
Price difference ($100 base)
$330
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1972 → 2002
$430
$100 in 2002 → 1972
$23.24
What happened to prices between 1972 and 2002
Between 1972 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 330.4%, which works out to an average of
4.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.23 buys in 2002: the 1972 dollar
lost 76.8% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 2002 at the same ratio, 4.30: $1,000 becomes
$4,304, and $10,000 becomes $43,038.
Amount in 1972
Value in 2002
$1.00
$4.30
$5.00
$21.52
$10.00
$43.04
$20.00
$86.08
$50.00
$215
$100
$430
$500
$2,152
$1,000
$4,304
$5,000
$21,519
$10,000
$43,038
$100,000
$430,383
$1,000,000
$4,303,828
Inflation by spending category, 1972–2002
Between 1972 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 665.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 99.0%, against 330.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.99%
$430
Medical care
7.02%
$766
Housing
5.20%
$458
Energy
5.12%
$447
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.01%
$433
Food
4.89%
$419
Transportation
4.58%
$383
Apparel
2.32%
$199
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.85% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1972–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$430
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $272 by
1987, on its way to $430 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $430; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 2002: $100 is worth $430 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2002/