$100 in 1972 is worth $515 in 2008,
because prices increased 415.1% over that period, an average of
4.66% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$515
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
415.1%
Average inflation rate
4.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$515
Price difference ($100 base)
$415
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1972 → 2008
$515
$100 in 2008 → 1972
$19.41
What happened to prices between 1972 and 2008
Between 1972 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 415.1%, which works out to an average of
4.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.19 buys in 2008: the 1972 dollar
lost 80.6% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 2008 at the same ratio, 5.15: $1,000 becomes
$5,151, and $10,000 becomes $51,508.
Amount in 1972
Value in 2008
$1.00
$5.15
$5.00
$25.75
$10.00
$51.51
$20.00
$103
$50.00
$258
$100
$515
$500
$2,575
$1,000
$5,151
$5,000
$25,754
$10,000
$51,508
$100,000
$515,079
$1,000,000
$5,150,789
Inflation by spending category, 1972–2008
Between 1972 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 876.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 90.9%, against 415.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.66%
$515
Medical care
6.53%
$976
Energy
6.19%
$870
Housing
4.84%
$549
Food
4.62%
$509
Transportation
4.51%
$490
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.51%
$490
Apparel
1.81%
$191
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 2008
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 1972–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$515
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $313 by
1990, on its way to $515 in 2008; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1972 had the buying
power of $515; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1972 to 2008: $100 is worth $515 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-2008/