$100 in 1973 is worth $307 in 1991,
because prices increased 206.8% over that period, an average of
6.43% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$307
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
206.8%
Average inflation rate
6.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$307
Price difference ($100 base)
$207
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1973 → 1991
$307
$100 in 1991 → 1973
$32.60
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1991
Between 1973 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 206.8%, which works out to an average of
6.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.33 buys in 1991: the 1973 dollar
lost 67.4% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1991 at the same ratio, 3.07: $1,000 becomes
$3,068, and $10,000 becomes $30,676.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1991
$1.00
$3.07
$5.00
$15.34
$10.00
$30.68
$20.00
$61.35
$50.00
$153
$100
$307
$500
$1,534
$1,000
$3,068
$5,000
$15,338
$10,000
$30,676
$100,000
$306,757
$1,000,000
$3,067,568
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1991
Between 1973 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 356.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 99.2%, against 206.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.43%
$307
Medical care
8.80%
$456
Energy
7.18%
$349
Housing
6.75%
$324
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.52%
$312
Transportation
6.30%
$300
Food
5.95%
$283
Apparel
3.90%
$199
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (4.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1991 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1973, at end
1973–1980
9.24%
85.6%
$186
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$294
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$307
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $217 by
1982, on its way to $307 in 1991; 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 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $307; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1991: $100 is worth $307 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1991/