$100 in 1973 is worth $217 in 1982,
because prices increased 117.3% over that period, an average of
9.01% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$217
in 1982
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
117.3%
Average inflation rate
9.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$217
Price difference ($100 base)
$117
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1982
96.5
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
$100 in 1973 → 1982
$217
$100 in 1982 → 1973
$46.01
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1982
Between 1973 and 1982, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 96.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 117.3%, which works out to an average of
9.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1982: the 1973 dollar
lost 54.0% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 1982 at the same ratio, 2.17: $1,000 becomes
$2,173, and $10,000 becomes $21,734.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1982
$1.00
$2.17
$5.00
$10.87
$10.00
$21.73
$20.00
$43.47
$50.00
$109
$100
$217
$500
$1,087
$1,000
$2,173
$5,000
$10,867
$10,000
$21,734
$100,000
$217,342
$1,000,000
$2,173,423
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1982
Between 1973 and 1982, energy rose the most, up 237.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 51.4%, against 117.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1982, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
9.01%
$217
Energy
14.47%
$337
Medical care
10.13%
$238
Transportation
9.98%
$235
Housing
9.97%
$235
Core (all items less food & energy)
8.60%
$210
Food
8.13%
$202
Apparel
4.72%
$151
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1982
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (8.22% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1982 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1973, at end
1973–1980
9.24%
85.6%
$186
1980–1982
8.22%
17.1%
$217
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $136 by
1977, on its way to $217 in 1982; 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 1982, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $217; the year's average CPI of 96.5 is the level
behind every 1982 figure on this page.
1982 was the hard bottom of the disinflation Paul Volcker had set in motion.
Consumer prices rose just 6.2% for the year, roughly half of 1981’s rate and a
fraction of the 13.5% peak from two years earlier. The price fell because
demand had been crushed: the recession that began in July 1981 did not
officially end until November 1982, and unemployment kept climbing even as
the economy technically began to recover, reaching 10.8% in November and
December, the highest rate since the Great Depression. Manufacturing and
construction, especially the auto and housing industries starved of credit by
double-digit interest rates, bore the worst of it. Abroad, Mexico’s August
announcement that it could not service its foreign debt opened a Latin
American debt crisis that spread across the region and forced the Federal
Reserve and IMF into emergency lending. The stress on the financial system
pushed Volcker to start easing interest rates that October, stepping back
from the strict money-supply targets he had followed since 1979. Markets read
the shift correctly: the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 776.92 in
mid-August, and the rally that followed became the opening leg of the 1980s
bull market. By year’s end, the trade-off Volcker had bet on was becoming
visible: much lower inflation, at the cost of the worst unemployment in 40
years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1982: $100 is worth $217 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1982/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1982. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1982/