$100 in 1974 is worth $421 in 2007,
because prices increased 320.6% over that period, an average of
4.45% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$421
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
320.6%
Average inflation rate
4.45% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$421
Price difference ($100 base)
$321
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1974 → 2007
$421
$100 in 2007 → 1974
$23.78
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2007
Between 1974 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 320.6%, which works out to an average of
4.45% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2007: the 1974 dollar
lost 76.2% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2007 at the same ratio, 4.21: $1,000 becomes
$4,206, and $10,000 becomes $42,057.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2007
$1.00
$4.21
$5.00
$21.03
$10.00
$42.06
$20.00
$84.11
$50.00
$210
$100
$421
$500
$2,103
$1,000
$4,206
$5,000
$21,029
$10,000
$42,057
$100,000
$420,572
$1,000,000
$4,205,720
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2007
Between 1974 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 728.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 71.5%, against 320.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.45%
$421
Medical care
6.62%
$828
Energy
5.27%
$545
Housing
4.72%
$458
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.49%
$427
Transportation
4.32%
$403
Food
4.03%
$368
Apparel
1.65%
$171
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$421
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $265 by
1990, on its way to $421 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $421; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2007: $100 is worth $421 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2007/