$100 in 1974 is worth $331 in 1998,
because prices increased 230.6% over that period, an average of
5.11% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$331
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
230.6%
Average inflation rate
5.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$331
Price difference ($100 base)
$231
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1974 → 1998
$331
$100 in 1998 → 1974
$30.25
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1998
Between 1974 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 230.6%, which works out to an average of
5.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1998: the 1974 dollar
lost 69.8% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 1998 at the same ratio, 3.31: $1,000 becomes
$3,306, and $10,000 becomes $33,063.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1998
$1.00
$3.31
$5.00
$16.53
$10.00
$33.06
$20.00
$66.13
$50.00
$165
$100
$331
$500
$1,653
$1,000
$3,306
$5,000
$16,531
$10,000
$33,063
$100,000
$330,629
$1,000,000
$3,306,288
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1998
Between 1974 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 471.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 91.6%, against 230.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.11%
$331
Medical care
7.53%
$571
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.37%
$351
Housing
5.36%
$350
Transportation
4.82%
$309
Food
4.56%
$292
Energy
4.23%
$270
Apparel
2.75%
$192
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1998
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$331
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $222 by
1986, on its way to $331 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $331; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1998: $100 is worth $331 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1998/