$100 in 1973 is worth $367 in 1998,
because prices increased 267.1% over that period, an average of
5.34% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$367
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
267.1%
Average inflation rate
5.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$367
Price difference ($100 base)
$267
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1973 → 1998
$367
$100 in 1998 → 1973
$27.24
What happened to prices between 1973 and 1998
Between 1973 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 267.1%, which works out to an average of
5.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1998: the 1973 dollar
lost 72.8% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1998 at the same ratio, 3.67: $1,000 becomes
$3,671, and $10,000 becomes $36,712.
Amount in 1973
Value in 1998
$1.00
$3.67
$5.00
$18.36
$10.00
$36.71
$20.00
$73.42
$50.00
$184
$100
$367
$500
$1,836
$1,000
$3,671
$5,000
$18,356
$10,000
$36,712
$100,000
$367,117
$1,000,000
$3,671,171
Inflation by spending category, 1973–1998
Between 1973 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 524.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 105.9%, against 267.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.34%
$367
Medical care
7.60%
$624
Housing
5.59%
$389
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.49%
$380
Energy
5.14%
$350
Transportation
5.06%
$344
Food
4.93%
$333
Apparel
2.93%
$206
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 1998
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$367
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $242 by
1985, on its way to $367 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $367; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 1998: $100 is worth $367 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-1998/