$100 in 1974 is worth $636 in 2024,
because prices increased 536.3% over that period, an average of
3.77% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$636
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
536.3%
Average inflation rate
3.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$636
Price difference ($100 base)
$536
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1974 → 2024
$636
$100 in 2024 → 1974
$15.72
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2024
Between 1974 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 536.3%, which works out to an average of
3.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2024: the 1974 dollar
lost 84.3% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 2024 at the same ratio, 6.36: $1,000 becomes
$6,363, and $10,000 becomes $63,629.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2024
$1.00
$6.36
$5.00
$31.81
$10.00
$63.63
$20.00
$127
$50.00
$318
$100
$636
$500
$3,181
$1,000
$6,363
$5,000
$31,814
$10,000
$63,629
$100,000
$636,286
$1,000,000
$6,362,860
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2024
Between 1974 and 2024, medical care rose the most, up 1229.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 89.5%, against 536.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.77%
$636
Medical care
5.31%
$1,330
Energy
4.07%
$734
Housing
4.05%
$730
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.80%
$646
Food
3.65%
$599
Transportation
3.62%
$591
Apparel
1.29%
$189
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2024
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–2024 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$525
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$636
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $331 by
1998, on its way to $636 in 2024; 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $636; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2024: $100 is worth $636 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2024/