$100 in 1973 is worth $525 in 2013,
because prices increased 424.7% over that period, an average of
4.23% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$525
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
424.7%
Average inflation rate
4.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$525
Price difference ($100 base)
$425
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1973 → 2013
$525
$100 in 2013 → 1973
$19.06
What happened to prices between 1973 and 2013
Between 1973 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 424.7%, which works out to an average of
4.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.19 buys in 2013: the 1973 dollar
lost 80.9% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 2013 at the same ratio, 5.25: $1,000 becomes
$5,247, and $10,000 becomes $52,468.
Amount in 1973
Value in 2013
$1.00
$5.25
$5.00
$26.23
$10.00
$52.47
$20.00
$105
$50.00
$262
$100
$525
$500
$2,623
$1,000
$5,247
$5,000
$26,234
$10,000
$52,468
$100,000
$524,678
$1,000,000
$5,246,779
Inflation by spending category, 1973–2013
Between 1973 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 995.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 97.2%, against 424.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.23%
$525
Medical care
6.17%
$1,096
Energy
5.44%
$831
Housing
4.36%
$552
Transportation
4.25%
$528
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.17%
$513
Food
4.06%
$492
Apparel
1.71%
$197
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–2013 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
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$525
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $325 by
1993, on its way to $525 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $525; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 2013: $100 is worth $525 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2013/