$100 in 1973 is worth $247 in 1986,
because prices increased 146.8% over that period, an average of
7.20% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$247
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
146.8%
Average inflation rate
7.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$247
Price difference ($100 base)
$147
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1973 → 1986
$247
$100 in 1986 → 1973
$40.51
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1986
Between 1973 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 146.8%, which works out to an average of
7.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.41 buys in 1986: the 1973 dollar
lost 59.5% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 1986 at the same ratio, 2.47: $1,000 becomes
$2,468, and $10,000 becomes $24,685.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1986
$1.00
$2.47
$5.00
$12.34
$10.00
$24.68
$20.00
$49.37
$50.00
$123
$100
$247
$500
$1,234
$1,000
$2,468
$5,000
$12,342
$10,000
$24,685
$100,000
$246,847
$1,000,000
$2,468,468
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1986
Between 1973 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 214.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 63.9%, against 146.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.20%
$247
Medical care
9.21%
$314
Energy
8.82%
$300
Housing
7.91%
$269
Core (all items less food & energy)
7.27%
$249
Transportation
7.25%
$248
Food
6.48%
$226
Apparel
3.88%
$164
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1986
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.87% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1986 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1973, at end
1973–1980
9.24%
85.6%
$186
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$247
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $164 by
1979, on its way to $247 in 1986; 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $247; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1986: $100 is worth $247 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1986/