$100 in 1974 is worth $653 in 2025,
because prices increased 553.0% over that period, an average of
3.75% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$653
in 2025
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
553.0%
Average inflation rate
3.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$653
Price difference ($100 base)
$553
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 2025
321.943
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 2025
2.63%
$100 in 1974 → 2025
$653
$100 in 2025 → 1974
$15.31
What happened to prices between 1974 and 2025
Between 1974 and 2025, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 321.943.
Cumulatively, prices increased 553.0%, which works out to an average of
3.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2025: the 1974 dollar
lost 84.7% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2025 at the same ratio, 6.53: $1,000 becomes
$6,530, and $10,000 becomes $65,303.
Amount in 1974
Value in 2025
$1.00
$6.53
$5.00
$32.65
$10.00
$65.30
$20.00
$131
$50.00
$327
$100
$653
$500
$3,265
$1,000
$6,530
$5,000
$32,651
$10,000
$65,303
$100,000
$653,028
$1,000,000
$6,530,284
Inflation by spending category, 1974–2025
Between 1974 and 2025, medical care rose the most, up 1268.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 89.2%, against 553.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 2025, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.75%
$653
Medical care
5.26%
$1,368
Housing
4.05%
$757
Energy
3.98%
$733
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.78%
$664
Food
3.63%
$616
Transportation
3.56%
$594
Apparel
1.26%
$189
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 2025
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 1974–2025 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
2020–2025
4.46%
24.4%
$653
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $349 by
2000, on its way to $653 in 2025; 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: 2025
In 2025, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $653; the year's average CPI of 321.943 is the level
behind every 2025 figure on this page.
2025 was a year of trade policy and data disruptions rather than an
inflation surge. Consumer prices rose 2.6% on average, a step down from
2024’s 2.9% and well below the 8.0% of 2022. Tariffs announced in April
pushed up prices for some imported goods, including furniture, apparel, and
auto parts, but the effect on the overall index was smaller than many
forecasters feared at the start of the year, in part because retailers
absorbed some of the cost and demand for services stayed steady.
The Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady through the first half of the
year, then began cutting again in September, lowering it in three quarter-point
steps to 3.50–3.75% by December.
The federal government shutdown that began October 1 lasted 43 days, and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish a CPI for October 2025 because the
survey data could not be collected. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 78 cents in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1974 to 2025: $100 is worth $653 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2025/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 2025. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-2025/