$100 in 1973 is worth $405 in 2002,
because prices increased 305.2% over that period, an average of
4.94% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$405
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
305.2%
Average inflation rate
4.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$405
Price difference ($100 base)
$305
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1973 → 2002
$405
$100 in 2002 → 1973
$24.68
What happened to prices between 1973 and 2002
Between 1973 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 305.2%, which works out to an average of
4.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.25 buys in 2002: the 1973 dollar
lost 75.3% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2002 at the same ratio, 4.05: $1,000 becomes
$4,052, and $10,000 becomes $40,518.
Amount in 1973
Value in 2002
$1.00
$4.05
$5.00
$20.26
$10.00
$40.52
$20.00
$81.04
$50.00
$203
$100
$405
$500
$2,026
$1,000
$4,052
$5,000
$20,259
$10,000
$40,518
$100,000
$405,180
$1,000,000
$4,051,802
Inflation by spending category, 1973–2002
Between 1973 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 636.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 92.0%, against 305.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.94%
$405
Medical care
7.13%
$736
Housing
5.22%
$438
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.05%
$418
Energy
5.02%
$414
Transportation
4.63%
$371
Food
4.57%
$366
Apparel
2.27%
$192
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–2002 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$388
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$405
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $256 by
1987, on its way to $405 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $405; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 2002: $100 is worth $405 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2002/