$100 in 1974 is worth $211 in 1984,
because prices increased 110.8% over that period, an average of
7.74% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$211
in 1984
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
110.8%
Average inflation rate
7.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$211
Price difference ($100 base)
$111
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1984
103.9
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
$100 in 1974 → 1984
$211
$100 in 1984 → 1974
$47.45
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1984
Between 1974 and 1984, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 103.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 110.8%, which works out to an average of
7.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.47 buys in 1984: the 1974 dollar
lost 52.6% of its purchasing power over
these 10 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 1984 at the same ratio, 2.11: $1,000 becomes
$2,108, and $10,000 becomes $21,075.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1984
$1.00
$2.11
$5.00
$10.54
$10.00
$21.08
$20.00
$42.15
$50.00
$105
$100
$211
$500
$1,054
$1,000
$2,108
$5,000
$10,538
$10,000
$21,075
$100,000
$210,751
$1,000,000
$2,107,505
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1984
Between 1974 and 1984, energy rose the most, up 164.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 47.1%, against 110.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1984, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.74%
$211
Energy
10.23%
$265
Medical care
9.68%
$252
Transportation
8.52%
$226
Housing
8.50%
$226
Core (all items less food & energy)
7.79%
$212
Food
6.48%
$187
Apparel
3.94%
$147
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1984
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (5.97% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1984 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1974, at end
1974–1980
8.94%
67.1%
$167
1980–1984
5.97%
26.1%
$211
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $147 by
1979, on its way to $211 in 1984; 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 3.2% in 1983.
In 1984, prices rose 4.3% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $211; the year's average CPI of 103.9 is the level
behind every 1984 figure on this page.
1984 was the year the recovery became a boom. Real GDP grew 7.2%, the
fastest calendar-year growth since 1951, as the tax cuts passed in 1981
combined with falling interest rates and rebuilding consumer confidence.
Unemployment, which had topped 10.8% just two years earlier, fell below
7.5%. Inflation ticked up to 4.3% from 3.2% the year before, but nothing
close to a return of the 1970s wage-price spiral: the Federal Reserve under
Paul Volcker kept policy tight enough to hold the line while growth ran hot.
The strength of the expansion, branded “Morning in America” in President
Reagan’s reelection campaign, carried him to a 49-state landslide over
Walter Mondale that November, at the time the widest electoral-vote margin
in U.S. history. For households, the numbers behind the slogan were
concrete: median income rose to about $22,400, and a gallon of gas cost
$1.13, roughly what it had cost three years earlier even as wages kept
climbing. The contrast with 1980, when 13.5% inflation and interest rates
near 20% had defined the economy, could not have been sharper.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1984: $100 is worth $211 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1984/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1984. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1984/