$100 in 1975 is worth $253 in 1991,
because prices increased 153.2% over that period, an average of
5.98% a year.
$100 in 1975 has
the same buying power as
$253
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
153.2%
Average inflation rate
5.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$253
Price difference ($100 base)
$153
CPI in 1975
53.8
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1975 → 1991
$253
$100 in 1991 → 1975
$39.50
What happened to prices between 1975 and 1991
Between 1975 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 53.8 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 153.2%, which works out to an average of
5.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1975 bought what
$0.40 buys in 1991: the 1975 dollar
lost 60.5% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1991 at the same ratio, 2.53: $1,000 becomes
$2,532, and $10,000 becomes $25,316.
Amount in 1975
Value in 1991
$1.00
$2.53
$5.00
$12.66
$10.00
$25.32
$20.00
$50.63
$50.00
$127
$100
$253
$500
$1,266
$1,000
$2,532
$5,000
$12,658
$10,000
$25,316
$100,000
$253,160
$1,000,000
$2,531,599
Inflation by spending category, 1975–1991
Between 1975 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 272.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 77.5%, against 153.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1975
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1975 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.98%
$253
Medical care
8.57%
$373
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.25%
$264
Housing
6.24%
$264
Transportation
5.82%
$247
Energy
5.72%
$243
Food
5.28%
$228
Apparel
3.65%
$178
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1975: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1975 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.90% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (4.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1975–1991 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
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$253
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1975
$100 from 1975 had already become $185 by
1983, on its way to $253 in 1991; 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 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1975 had the buying
power of $253; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1975 to 1991: $100 is worth $253 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1975 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1991/