$100 in 1973 is worth $353 in 1996,
because prices increased 253.4% over that period, an average of
5.64% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$353
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
253.4%
Average inflation rate
5.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$353
Price difference ($100 base)
$253
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1973 → 1996
$353
$100 in 1996 → 1973
$28.30
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1996
Between 1973 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 253.4%, which works out to an average of
5.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1996: the 1973 dollar
lost 71.7% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 1996 at the same ratio, 3.53: $1,000 becomes
$3,534, and $10,000 becomes $35,338.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1996
$1.00
$3.53
$5.00
$17.67
$10.00
$35.34
$20.00
$70.68
$50.00
$177
$100
$353
$500
$1,767
$1,000
$3,534
$5,000
$17,669
$10,000
$35,338
$100,000
$353,378
$1,000,000
$3,533,784
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1996
Between 1973 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 488.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 103.9%, against 253.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.64%
$353
Medical care
8.01%
$588
Energy
5.91%
$374
Housing
5.86%
$371
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.77%
$363
Transportation
5.56%
$347
Food
5.16%
$318
Apparel
3.15%
$204
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1996
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.09% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$353
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $234 by
1984, on its way to $353 in 1996; 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 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $353; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1996: $100 is worth $353 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1996/