$100 in 1974 is worth $456 in 2011,
because prices increased 356.3% over that period, an average of
4.19% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$456
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
356.3%
Average inflation rate
4.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$456
Price difference ($100 base)
$356
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1974 → 2011
$456
$100 in 2011 → 1974
$21.92
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2011
Between 1974 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 356.3%, which works out to an average of
4.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.22 buys in 2011: the 1974 dollar
lost 78.1% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2011 at the same ratio, 4.56: $1,000 becomes
$4,563, and $10,000 becomes $45,627.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2011
$1.00
$4.56
$5.00
$22.81
$10.00
$45.63
$20.00
$91.25
$50.00
$228
$100
$456
$500
$2,281
$1,000
$4,563
$5,000
$22,813
$10,000
$45,627
$100,000
$456,266
$1,000,000
$4,562,657
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2011
Between 1974 and 2011, medical care rose the most, up 844.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 76.0%, against 356.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.19%
$456
Medical care
6.26%
$944
Energy
5.15%
$640
Housing
4.32%
$478
Transportation
4.23%
$464
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.18%
$455
Food
3.91%
$414
Apparel
1.54%
$176
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–2011 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$442
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$456
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $285 by
1992, on its way to $456 in 2011; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2011
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $456; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2011: $100 is worth $456 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2011/