$100 in 1974 is worth $293 in 1993,
because prices increased 193.1% over that period, an average of
5.82% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$293
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
193.1%
Average inflation rate
5.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$293
Price difference ($100 base)
$193
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1974 → 1993
$293
$100 in 1993 → 1974
$34.12
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1993
Between 1974 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 193.1%, which works out to an average of
5.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.34 buys in 1993: the 1974 dollar
lost 65.9% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1993 at the same ratio, 2.93: $1,000 becomes
$2,931, and $10,000 becomes $29,310.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1993
$1.00
$2.93
$5.00
$14.66
$10.00
$29.31
$20.00
$58.62
$50.00
$147
$100
$293
$500
$1,466
$1,000
$2,931
$5,000
$14,655
$10,000
$29,310
$100,000
$293,103
$1,000,000
$2,931,034
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1993
Between 1974 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 375.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 92.7%, against 193.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.82%
$293
Medical care
8.55%
$475
Housing
6.10%
$308
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.10%
$308
Transportation
5.66%
$285
Energy
5.44%
$273
Food
5.07%
$256
Apparel
3.51%
$193
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$293
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $202 by
1983, on its way to $293 in 1993; 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 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $293; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1993: $100 is worth $293 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1993/