$100 in 1973 is worth $334 in 1994,
because prices increased 233.8% over that period, an average of
5.91% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$334
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
233.8%
Average inflation rate
5.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$334
Price difference ($100 base)
$234
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1973 → 1994
$334
$100 in 1994 → 1973
$29.96
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1994
Between 1973 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 233.8%, which works out to an average of
5.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1994: the 1973 dollar
lost 70.0% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 1994 at the same ratio, 3.34: $1,000 becomes
$3,338, and $10,000 becomes $33,378.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1994
$1.00
$3.34
$5.00
$16.69
$10.00
$33.38
$20.00
$66.76
$50.00
$167
$100
$334
$500
$1,669
$1,000
$3,338
$5,000
$16,689
$10,000
$33,378
$100,000
$333,784
$1,000,000
$3,337,838
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1994
Between 1973 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 443.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 106.5%, against 233.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.91%
$334
Medical care
8.40%
$544
Energy
6.23%
$356
Housing
6.17%
$351
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.05%
$343
Transportation
5.79%
$326
Food
5.36%
$299
Apparel
3.51%
$207
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1994
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.19% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$334
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $224 by
1983, on its way to $334 in 1994; 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 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $334; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1994: $100 is worth $334 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1994/