$100 in 1973 is worth $128 in 1976,
because prices increased 28.2% over that period, an average of
8.62% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$128
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
28.2%
Average inflation rate
8.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$128
Price difference ($100 base)
$28.15
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1973 → 1976
$128
$100 in 1976 → 1973
$78.03
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1976
Between 1973 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 28.2%, which works out to an average of
8.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.78 buys in 1976: the 1973 dollar
lost 22.0% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
Every 1973 amount converts to 1976 at the same ratio, 1.28: $1,000 becomes
$1,282, and $10,000 becomes $12,815.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1976
$1.00
$1.28
$5.00
$6.41
$10.00
$12.82
$20.00
$25.63
$50.00
$64.08
$100
$128
$500
$641
$1,000
$1,282
$5,000
$6,408
$10,000
$12,815
$100,000
$128,153
$1,000,000
$1,281,532
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1976
Between 1973 and 1976, energy rose the most, up 53.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 16.4%, against 28.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
8.62%
$128
Energy
15.33%
$153
Medical care
10.25%
$134
Transportation
10.18%
$134
Housing
9.30%
$131
Food
8.52%
$128
Core (all items less food & energy)
7.97%
$126
Apparel
5.20%
$116
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $111 by
1974, on its way to $128 in 1976; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 5.8% in 1976.
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $128; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1976: $100 is worth $128 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1976/