$100 in 1973 is worth $491 in 2010,
because prices increased 391.1% over that period, an average of
4.40% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$491
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
391.1%
Average inflation rate
4.40% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$491
Price difference ($100 base)
$391
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1973 → 2010
$491
$100 in 2010 → 1973
$20.36
What happened to prices between 1973 and 2010
Between 1973 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 391.1%, which works out to an average of
4.40% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.20 buys in 2010: the 1973 dollar
lost 79.6% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2010 at the same ratio, 4.91: $1,000 becomes
$4,911, and $10,000 becomes $49,112.
Amount in 1973
Value in 2010
$1.00
$4.91
$5.00
$24.56
$10.00
$49.11
$20.00
$98.22
$50.00
$246
$100
$491
$500
$2,456
$1,000
$4,911
$5,000
$24,556
$10,000
$49,112
$100,000
$491,117
$1,000,000
$4,911,171
Inflation by spending category, 1973–2010
Between 1973 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 901.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 85.0%, against 391.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.40%
$491
Medical care
6.42%
$1,001
Energy
5.48%
$719
Housing
4.58%
$525
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.36%
$485
Transportation
4.27%
$469
Food
4.18%
$456
Apparel
1.68%
$185
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$491
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $307 by
1991, on its way to $491 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $491; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 2010: $100 is worth $491 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2010/