$100 in 1974 is worth $409 in 2006,
because prices increased 308.9% over that period, an average of
4.50% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$409
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
308.9%
Average inflation rate
4.50% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$409
Price difference ($100 base)
$309
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1974 → 2006
$409
$100 in 2006 → 1974
$24.45
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2006
Between 1974 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 308.9%, which works out to an average of
4.50% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2006: the 1974 dollar
lost 75.5% of its purchasing power over
these 32 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 2006 at the same ratio, 4.09: $1,000 becomes
$4,089, and $10,000 becomes $40,892.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2006
$1.00
$4.09
$5.00
$20.45
$10.00
$40.89
$20.00
$81.78
$50.00
$204
$100
$409
$500
$2,045
$1,000
$4,089
$5,000
$20,446
$10,000
$40,892
$100,000
$408,925
$1,000,000
$4,089,249
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2006
Between 1974 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 692.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 72.2%, against 308.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.50%
$409
Medical care
6.68%
$793
Energy
5.27%
$517
Housing
4.77%
$444
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.56%
$417
Transportation
4.39%
$395
Food
4.03%
$354
Apparel
1.71%
$172
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$409
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $265 by
1990, on its way to $409 in 2006; 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: 2006
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $409; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2006: $100 is worth $409 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2006/