$100 in 1974 is worth $338 in 1999,
because prices increased 237.9% over that period, an average of
4.99% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$338
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
237.9%
Average inflation rate
4.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$338
Price difference ($100 base)
$238
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1974 → 1999
$338
$100 in 1999 → 1974
$29.59
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1999
Between 1974 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 237.9%, which works out to an average of
4.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1999: the 1974 dollar
lost 70.4% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1999 at the same ratio, 3.38: $1,000 becomes
$3,379, and $10,000 becomes $33,793.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1999
$1.00
$3.38
$5.00
$16.90
$10.00
$33.79
$20.00
$67.59
$50.00
$169
$100
$338
$500
$1,690
$1,000
$3,379
$5,000
$16,897
$10,000
$33,793
$100,000
$337,931
$1,000,000
$3,379,310
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1999
Between 1974 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 491.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 89.2%, against 237.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.99%
$338
Medical care
7.37%
$591
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.24%
$358
Housing
5.23%
$358
Transportation
4.70%
$315
Food
4.46%
$298
Energy
4.20%
$280
Apparel
2.58%
$189
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1999
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$338
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $222 by
1986, on its way to $338 in 1999; 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 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $338; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 1999: $100 is worth $338 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1999/