$100 in 1974 is worth $309 in 1995,
because prices increased 209.1% over that period, an average of
5.52% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$309
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
209.1%
Average inflation rate
5.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$309
Price difference ($100 base)
$209
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1974 → 1995
$309
$100 in 1995 → 1974
$32.35
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1995
Between 1974 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 209.1%, which works out to an average of
5.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1995: the 1974 dollar
lost 67.7% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 1995 at the same ratio, 3.09: $1,000 becomes
$3,091, and $10,000 becomes $30,913.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1995
$1.00
$3.09
$5.00
$15.46
$10.00
$30.91
$20.00
$61.83
$50.00
$155
$100
$309
$500
$1,546
$1,000
$3,091
$5,000
$15,456
$10,000
$30,913
$100,000
$309,128
$1,000,000
$3,091,278
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1995
Between 1974 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 420.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 90.2%, against 209.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.52%
$309
Medical care
8.17%
$520
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.79%
$326
Housing
5.76%
$324
Transportation
5.43%
$304
Energy
4.96%
$276
Food
4.83%
$269
Apparel
3.11%
$190
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$309
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $211 by
1984, on its way to $309 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $309; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1995: $100 is worth $309 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1995/