$100 in 1974 is worth $123 in 1977,
because prices increased 22.9% over that period, an average of
7.12% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$123
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
22.9%
Average inflation rate
7.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$123
Price difference ($100 base)
$22.92
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1974 → 1977
$123
$100 in 1977 → 1974
$81.35
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1977
Between 1974 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 22.9%, which works out to an average of
7.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.81 buys in 1977: the 1974 dollar
lost 18.6% of its purchasing power over
these 3 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 1977 at the same ratio, 1.23: $1,000 becomes
$1,229, and $10,000 becomes $12,292.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1977
$1.00
$1.23
$5.00
$6.15
$10.00
$12.29
$20.00
$24.58
$50.00
$61.46
$100
$123
$500
$615
$1,000
$1,229
$5,000
$6,146
$10,000
$12,292
$100,000
$122,921
$1,000,000
$1,229,209
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1977
Between 1974 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 34.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 13.3%, against 22.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.12%
$123
Medical care
10.37%
$134
Energy
9.04%
$130
Transportation
8.81%
$129
Housing
7.82%
$125
Core (all items less food & energy)
7.28%
$123
Food
5.93%
$119
Apparel
4.24%
$113
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 $123 in 1977; 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 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $123; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1977: $100 is worth $123 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1977/