$100 in 1974 is worth $276 in 1991,
because prices increased 176.3% over that period, an average of
6.16% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$276
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
176.3%
Average inflation rate
6.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$276
Price difference ($100 base)
$176
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1974 → 1991
$276
$100 in 1991 → 1974
$36.20
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1991
Between 1974 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 176.3%, which works out to an average of
6.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.36 buys in 1991: the 1974 dollar
lost 63.8% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 1991 at the same ratio, 2.76: $1,000 becomes
$2,763, and $10,000 becomes $27,627.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1991
$1.00
$2.76
$5.00
$13.81
$10.00
$27.63
$20.00
$55.25
$50.00
$138
$100
$276
$500
$1,381
$1,000
$2,763
$5,000
$13,813
$10,000
$27,627
$100,000
$276,268
$1,000,000
$2,762,677
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1991
Between 1974 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 317.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 85.4%, against 176.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.16%
$276
Medical care
8.77%
$417
Housing
6.50%
$292
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.41%
$288
Transportation
6.02%
$270
Energy
5.99%
$269
Food
5.47%
$247
Apparel
3.70%
$185
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (4.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1991 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1974, at end
1974–1980
8.94%
67.1%
$167
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$265
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$276
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $196 by
1982, on its way to $276 in 1991; 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $276; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1991: $100 is worth $276 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1991/