$100 in 1973 is worth $467 in 2007,
because prices increased 367.0% over that period, an average of
4.64% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$467
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
367.0%
Average inflation rate
4.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$467
Price difference ($100 base)
$367
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1973 → 2007
$467
$100 in 2007 → 1973
$21.41
What happened to prices between 1973 and 2007
Between 1973 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 367.0%, which works out to an average of
4.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.21 buys in 2007: the 1973 dollar
lost 78.6% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2007 at the same ratio, 4.67: $1,000 becomes
$4,670, and $10,000 becomes $46,699.
Amount in 1973
Value in 2007
$1.00
$4.67
$5.00
$23.35
$10.00
$46.70
$20.00
$93.40
$50.00
$233
$100
$467
$500
$2,335
$1,000
$4,670
$5,000
$23,349
$10,000
$46,699
$100,000
$466,986
$1,000,000
$4,669,865
Inflation by spending category, 1973–2007
Between 1973 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 804.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 84.2%, against 367.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.64%
$467
Medical care
6.69%
$905
Energy
5.92%
$707
Housing
4.90%
$509
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.60%
$462
Transportation
4.51%
$448
Food
4.32%
$421
Apparel
1.81%
$184
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$467
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $279 by
1989, on its way to $467 in 2007; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $467; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 2007: $100 is worth $467 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2007/