$100 in 1975 is worth $243 in 1990,
because prices increased 142.9% over that period, an average of
6.10% a year.
$100 in 1975 has
the same buying power as
$243
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
142.9%
Average inflation rate
6.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$243
Price difference ($100 base)
$143
CPI in 1975
53.8
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1975 → 1990
$243
$100 in 1990 → 1975
$41.16
What happened to prices between 1975 and 1990
Between 1975 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 53.8 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 142.9%, which works out to an average of
6.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1975 bought what
$0.41 buys in 1990: the 1975 dollar
lost 58.8% of its purchasing power over
these 15 years.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
Every 1975 amount converts to 1990 at the same ratio, 2.43: $1,000 becomes
$2,429, and $10,000 becomes $24,294.
Amount in 1975
Value in 1990
$1.00
$2.43
$5.00
$12.15
$10.00
$24.29
$20.00
$48.59
$50.00
$121
$100
$243
$500
$1,215
$1,000
$2,429
$5,000
$12,147
$10,000
$24,294
$100,000
$242,937
$1,000,000
$2,429,368
Inflation by spending category, 1975–1990
Between 1975 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 242.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 71.2%, against 142.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1975
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1975 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.10%
$243
Medical care
8.56%
$343
Housing
6.40%
$253
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.34%
$251
Energy
6.08%
$243
Transportation
6.03%
$241
Food
5.44%
$221
Apparel
3.65%
$171
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1975: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1975 to 1990
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.90% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1975–1990 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1975, at end
1975–1980
8.90%
53.2%
$153
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$243
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1975
$100 from 1975 had already become $179 by
1982, on its way to $243 in 1990; 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1975 had the buying
power of $243; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1975 to 1990: $100 is worth $243 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1975 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1990/