$100 in 1974 is worth $301 in 1994,
because prices increased 200.6% over that period, an average of
5.66% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$301
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
200.6%
Average inflation rate
5.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$301
Price difference ($100 base)
$201
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1974 → 1994
$301
$100 in 1994 → 1974
$33.27
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1994
Between 1974 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 200.6%, which works out to an average of
5.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.33 buys in 1994: the 1974 dollar
lost 66.7% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 1994 at the same ratio, 3.01: $1,000 becomes
$3,006, and $10,000 becomes $30,061.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1994
$1.00
$3.01
$5.00
$15.03
$10.00
$30.06
$20.00
$60.12
$50.00
$150
$100
$301
$500
$1,503
$1,000
$3,006
$5,000
$15,030
$10,000
$30,061
$100,000
$300,609
$1,000,000
$3,006,085
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1994
Between 1974 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 397.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 92.2%, against 200.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.66%
$301
Medical care
8.35%
$498
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.93%
$317
Housing
5.92%
$316
Transportation
5.53%
$293
Energy
5.18%
$275
Food
4.93%
$262
Apparel
3.32%
$192
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1994
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.19% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$301
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $211 by
1984, on its way to $301 in 1994; 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 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $301; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1994: $100 is worth $301 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1994/