$100 in 1973 is worth $576 in 2019,
because prices increased 475.8% over that period, an average of
3.88% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$576
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
475.8%
Average inflation rate
3.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$576
Price difference ($100 base)
$476
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1973 → 2019
$576
$100 in 2019 → 1973
$17.37
What happened to prices between 1973 and 2019
Between 1973 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 475.8%, which works out to an average of
3.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.17 buys in 2019: the 1973 dollar
lost 82.6% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 2019 at the same ratio, 5.76: $1,000 becomes
$5,758, and $10,000 becomes $57,580.
Amount in 1973
Value in 2019
$1.00
$5.76
$5.00
$28.79
$10.00
$57.58
$20.00
$115
$50.00
$288
$100
$576
$500
$2,879
$1,000
$5,758
$5,000
$28,790
$10,000
$57,580
$100,000
$575,804
$1,000,000
$5,758,041
Inflation by spending category, 1973–2019
Between 1973 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 1184.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 92.0%, against 475.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.88%
$576
Medical care
5.71%
$1,285
Energy
4.42%
$732
Housing
4.14%
$646
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.88%
$577
Food
3.72%
$536
Transportation
3.60%
$510
Apparel
1.43%
$192
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$576
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $343 by
1995, on its way to $576 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $576; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 2019: $100 is worth $576 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2019/