$100 in 1973 is worth $266 in 1988,
because prices increased 166.4% over that period, an average of
6.75% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$266
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
166.4%
Average inflation rate
6.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$266
Price difference ($100 base)
$166
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1973 → 1988
$266
$100 in 1988 → 1973
$37.53
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1988
Between 1973 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 166.4%, which works out to an average of
6.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.38 buys in 1988: the 1973 dollar
lost 62.5% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 1988 at the same ratio, 2.66: $1,000 becomes
$2,664, and $10,000 becomes $26,644.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1988
$1.00
$2.66
$5.00
$13.32
$10.00
$26.64
$20.00
$53.29
$50.00
$133
$100
$266
$500
$1,332
$1,000
$2,664
$5,000
$13,322
$10,000
$26,644
$100,000
$266,441
$1,000,000
$2,664,414
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1988
Between 1973 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 257.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 78.6%, against 166.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.75%
$266
Medical care
8.86%
$357
Energy
7.69%
$304
Housing
7.30%
$288
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.86%
$271
Transportation
6.68%
$264
Food
6.16%
$245
Apparel
3.94%
$179
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1988
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.62% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1988 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1973, at end
1973–1980
9.24%
85.6%
$186
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$266
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $186 by
1980, on its way to $266 in 1988; 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 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $266; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1988: $100 is worth $266 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1988/