$100 in 1974 is worth $509 in 2018,
because prices increased 409.3% over that period, an average of
3.77% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$509
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
409.3%
Average inflation rate
3.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$509
Price difference ($100 base)
$409
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1974 → 2018
$509
$100 in 2018 → 1974
$19.63
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2018
Between 1974 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 409.3%, which works out to an average of
3.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.20 buys in 2018: the 1974 dollar
lost 80.4% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 2018 at the same ratio, 5.09: $1,000 becomes
$5,093, and $10,000 becomes $50,934.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2018
$1.00
$5.09
$5.00
$25.47
$10.00
$50.93
$20.00
$102
$50.00
$255
$100
$509
$500
$2,547
$1,000
$5,093
$5,000
$25,467
$10,000
$50,934
$100,000
$509,345
$1,000,000
$5,093,448
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2018
Between 1974 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 1043.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 81.1%, against 409.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.77%
$509
Medical care
5.69%
$1,143
Energy
4.06%
$577
Housing
4.01%
$564
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.82%
$521
Food
3.53%
$460
Transportation
3.53%
$460
Apparel
1.36%
$181
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$509
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $318 by
1996, on its way to $509 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $509; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2018: $100 is worth $509 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2018/