$100 in 1974 is worth $115 in 1976,
because prices increased 15.4% over that period, an average of
7.43% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$115
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
15.4%
Average inflation rate
7.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$115
Price difference ($100 base)
$15.42
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1974 → 1976
$115
$100 in 1976 → 1974
$86.64
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1976
Between 1974 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 15.4%, which works out to an average of
7.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.87 buys in 1976: the 1974 dollar
lost 13.4% of its purchasing power over
these 2 years.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
Every 1974 amount converts to 1976 at the same ratio, 1.15: $1,000 becomes
$1,154, and $10,000 becomes $11,542.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1976
$1.00
$1.15
$5.00
$5.77
$10.00
$11.54
$20.00
$23.08
$50.00
$57.71
$100
$115
$500
$577
$1,000
$1,154
$5,000
$5,771
$10,000
$11,542
$100,000
$115,416
$1,000,000
$1,154,158
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1976
Between 1974 and 1976, medical care rose the most, up 22.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 8.4%, against 15.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.43%
$115
Medical care
10.74%
$123
Transportation
9.68%
$120
Energy
8.80%
$118
Housing
8.38%
$117
Core (all items less food & energy)
7.79%
$116
Food
5.73%
$112
Apparel
4.09%
$108
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $109 by
1975, on its way to $115 in 1976; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 9.1% in 1975, and the smallest rise was 5.8% in 1976.
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $115; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1976: $100 is worth $115 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1976/