$100 in 1974 is worth $167 in 1980,
because prices increased 67.1% over that period, an average of
8.94% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$167
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
67.1%
Average inflation rate
8.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$167
Price difference ($100 base)
$67.14
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1974 → 1980
$167
$100 in 1980 → 1974
$59.83
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1980
Between 1974 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 67.1%, which works out to an average of
8.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.60 buys in 1980: the 1974 dollar
lost 40.2% of its purchasing power over
these 6 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 1980 at the same ratio, 1.67: $1,000 becomes
$1,671, and $10,000 becomes $16,714.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1980
$1.00
$1.67
$5.00
$8.36
$10.00
$16.71
$20.00
$33.43
$50.00
$83.57
$100
$167
$500
$836
$1,000
$1,671
$5,000
$8,357
$10,000
$16,714
$100,000
$167,140
$1,000,000
$1,671,400
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1980
Between 1974 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 125.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 31.0%, against 67.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
8.94%
$167
Energy
14.53%
$226
Transportation
10.44%
$181
Housing
9.99%
$177
Medical care
9.95%
$177
Core (all items less food & energy)
8.55%
$164
Food
7.87%
$158
Apparel
4.60%
$131
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 $123 by
1977, on its way to $167 in 1980; 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 the smallest rise was 5.8% in 1976.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $167; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1980: $100 is worth $167 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1980/