$100 in 1973 is worth $541 in 2016,
because prices increased 440.6% over that period, an average of
4.00% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$541
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
440.6%
Average inflation rate
4.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$541
Price difference ($100 base)
$441
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1973 → 2016
$541
$100 in 2016 → 1973
$18.50
What happened to prices between 1973 and 2016
Between 1973 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 440.6%, which works out to an average of
4.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.18 buys in 2016: the 1973 dollar
lost 81.5% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 2016 at the same ratio, 5.41: $1,000 becomes
$5,406, and $10,000 becomes $54,056.
Amount in 1973
Value in 2016
$1.00
$5.41
$5.00
$27.03
$10.00
$54.06
$20.00
$108
$50.00
$270
$100
$541
$500
$2,703
$1,000
$5,406
$5,000
$27,028
$10,000
$54,056
$100,000
$540,556
$1,000,000
$5,405,563
Inflation by spending category, 1973–2016
Between 1973 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 1095.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 95.1%, against 440.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.00%
$541
Medical care
5.94%
$1,195
Energy
4.43%
$645
Housing
4.22%
$592
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.01%
$543
Food
3.88%
$514
Transportation
3.68%
$473
Apparel
1.57%
$195
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$541
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $343 by
1995, on its way to $541 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $541; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 2016: $100 is worth $541 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2016/