$100 in 1973 is worth $205 in 1981,
because prices increased 104.7% over that period, an average of
9.37% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$205
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
104.7%
Average inflation rate
9.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$205
Price difference ($100 base)
$105
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1973 → 1981
$205
$100 in 1981 → 1973
$48.84
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1981
Between 1973 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 104.7%, which works out to an average of
9.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.49 buys in 1981: the 1973 dollar
lost 51.2% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 1981 at the same ratio, 2.05: $1,000 becomes
$2,047, and $10,000 becomes $20,473.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1981
$1.00
$2.05
$5.00
$10.24
$10.00
$20.47
$20.00
$40.95
$50.00
$102
$100
$205
$500
$1,024
$1,000
$2,047
$5,000
$10,236
$10,000
$20,473
$100,000
$204,730
$1,000,000
$2,047,297
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1981
Between 1973 and 1981, energy rose the most, up 232.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 47.5%, against 104.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
9.37%
$205
Energy
16.20%
$332
Transportation
10.74%
$226
Housing
10.32%
$219
Medical care
9.96%
$214
Core (all items less food & energy)
8.75%
$196
Food
8.65%
$194
Apparel
4.98%
$148
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1970s (9.24% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1981 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1973, at end
1973–1980
9.24%
85.6%
$186
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$205
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $136 by
1977, on its way to $205 in 1981; 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 5.8% in 1976.
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $205; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1981: $100 is worth $205 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1981/