$100 in 1973 is worth $343 in 1995,
because prices increased 243.2% over that period, an average of
5.77% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$343
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
243.2%
Average inflation rate
5.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$343
Price difference ($100 base)
$243
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1973 → 1995
$343
$100 in 1995 → 1973
$29.13
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1995
Between 1973 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 243.2%, which works out to an average of
5.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1995: the 1973 dollar
lost 70.9% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 1995 at the same ratio, 3.43: $1,000 becomes
$3,432, and $10,000 becomes $34,324.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1995
$1.00
$3.43
$5.00
$17.16
$10.00
$34.32
$20.00
$68.65
$50.00
$172
$100
$343
$500
$1,716
$1,000
$3,432
$5,000
$17,162
$10,000
$34,324
$100,000
$343,243
$1,000,000
$3,432,432
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1995
Between 1973 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 468.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 104.3%, against 243.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.77%
$343
Medical care
8.22%
$568
Housing
6.00%
$360
Energy
5.97%
$358
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.91%
$354
Transportation
5.69%
$338
Food
5.24%
$308
Apparel
3.30%
$204
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$343
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $234 by
1984, on its way to $343 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $343; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1995: $100 is worth $343 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1995/