$100 in 1974 is worth $396 in 2005,
because prices increased 296.1% over that period, an average of
4.54% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$396
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
296.1%
Average inflation rate
4.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$396
Price difference ($100 base)
$296
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1974 → 2005
$396
$100 in 2005 → 1974
$25.24
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2005
Between 1974 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 296.1%, which works out to an average of
4.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.25 buys in 2005: the 1974 dollar
lost 74.8% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 2005 at the same ratio, 3.96: $1,000 becomes
$3,961, and $10,000 becomes $39,615.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2005
$1.00
$3.96
$5.00
$19.81
$10.00
$39.61
$20.00
$79.23
$50.00
$198
$100
$396
$500
$1,981
$1,000
$3,961
$5,000
$19,807
$10,000
$39,615
$100,000
$396,146
$1,000,000
$3,961,460
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2005
Between 1974 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 662.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 72.2%, against 296.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.54%
$396
Medical care
6.77%
$762
Energy
5.08%
$465
Housing
4.80%
$427
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.63%
$407
Transportation
4.40%
$380
Food
4.09%
$346
Apparel
1.77%
$172
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.55% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$396
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $265 by
1990, on its way to $396 in 2005; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2005
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $396; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2005: $100 is worth $396 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2005/