$100 in 1973 is worth $725 in 2025,
because prices increased 625.1% over that period, an average of
3.88% a year.
$100 in 1973 has
the same buying power as
$725
in 2025
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
625.1%
Average inflation rate
3.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$725
Price difference ($100 base)
$625
CPI in 1973
44.4
CPI in 2025
321.943
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
Inflation in 2025
2.63%
$100 in 1973 → 2025
$725
$100 in 2025 → 1973
$13.79
What happened to prices between 1973 and 2025
Between 1973 and 2025, the Consumer Price Index went from 44.4 to 321.943.
Cumulatively, prices increased 625.1%, which works out to an average of
3.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1973 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2025: the 1973 dollar
lost 86.2% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 2025 at the same ratio, 7.25: $1,000 becomes
$7,251, and $10,000 becomes $72,510.
Amount in 1973
Value in 2025
$1.00
$7.25
$5.00
$36.25
$10.00
$72.51
$20.00
$145
$50.00
$363
$100
$725
$500
$3,625
$1,000
$7,251
$5,000
$36,255
$10,000
$72,510
$100,000
$725,097
$1,000,000
$7,250,968
Inflation by spending category, 1973–2025
Between 1973 and 2025, medical care rose the most, up 1395.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 103.3%, against 625.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1973
spending costs in 2025, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1973 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.88%
$725
Medical care
5.34%
$1,495
Energy
4.42%
$950
Housing
4.18%
$841
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.87%
$719
Food
3.83%
$704
Transportation
3.70%
$660
Apparel
1.37%
$203
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1973: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1973 to 2025
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.24% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1973–2025 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$583
2020–2025
4.46%
24.4%
$725
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1973
$100 from 1973 had already become $375 by
1999, on its way to $725 in 2025; 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: 2025
In 2025, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1973 had the buying
power of $725; the year's average CPI of 321.943 is the level
behind every 2025 figure on this page.
2025 was a year of trade policy and data disruptions rather than an
inflation surge. Consumer prices rose 2.6% on average, a step down from
2024’s 2.9% and well below the 8.0% of 2022. Tariffs announced in April
pushed up prices for some imported goods, including furniture, apparel, and
auto parts, but the effect on the overall index was smaller than many
forecasters feared at the start of the year, in part because retailers
absorbed some of the cost and demand for services stayed steady.
The Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady through the first half of the
year, then began cutting again in September, lowering it in three quarter-point
steps to 3.50–3.75% by December.
The federal government shutdown that began October 1 lasted 43 days, and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish a CPI for October 2025 because the
survey data could not be collected. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 78 cents in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1973 to 2025: $100 is worth $725 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2025/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1973 to 2025. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1973-to-2025/