$100 in 1974 is worth $383 in 2004,
because prices increased 283.2% over that period, an average of
4.58% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$383
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
283.2%
Average inflation rate
4.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$383
Price difference ($100 base)
$283
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1974 → 2004
$383
$100 in 2004 → 1974
$26.10
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2004
Between 1974 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 283.2%, which works out to an average of
4.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.26 buys in 2004: the 1974 dollar
lost 73.9% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 2004 at the same ratio, 3.83: $1,000 becomes
$3,832, and $10,000 becomes $38,316.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2004
$1.00
$3.83
$5.00
$19.16
$10.00
$38.32
$20.00
$76.63
$50.00
$192
$100
$383
$500
$1,916
$1,000
$3,832
$5,000
$19,158
$10,000
$38,316
$100,000
$383,164
$1,000,000
$3,831,643
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2004
Between 1974 and 2004, medical care rose the most, up 631.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 73.5%, against 283.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.58%
$383
Medical care
6.86%
$731
Housing
4.85%
$414
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.71%
$398
Energy
4.71%
$397
Transportation
4.32%
$356
Food
4.14%
$338
Apparel
1.85%
$173
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–2004 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$349
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$383
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $252 by
1989, on its way to $383 in 2004; 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 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $383; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2004: $100 is worth $383 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2004/