$100 in 1975 is worth $261 in 1992,
because prices increased 160.8% over that period, an average of
5.80% a year.
$100 in 1975 has
the same buying power as
$261
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
160.8%
Average inflation rate
5.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$261
Price difference ($100 base)
$161
CPI in 1975
53.8
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1975 → 1992
$261
$100 in 1992 → 1975
$38.35
What happened to prices between 1975 and 1992
Between 1975 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 53.8 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 160.8%, which works out to an average of
5.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1975 bought what
$0.38 buys in 1992: the 1975 dollar
lost 61.7% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 1992 at the same ratio, 2.61: $1,000 becomes
$2,608, and $10,000 becomes $26,078.
Amount in 1975
Value in 1992
$1.00
$2.61
$5.00
$13.04
$10.00
$26.08
$20.00
$52.16
$50.00
$130
$100
$261
$500
$1,304
$1,000
$2,608
$5,000
$13,039
$10,000
$26,078
$100,000
$260,781
$1,000,000
$2,607,807
Inflation by spending category, 1975–1992
Between 1975 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 300.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 81.9%, against 160.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1975
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1975 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.80%
$261
Medical care
8.50%
$400
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.09%
$273
Housing
6.04%
$271
Transportation
5.60%
$252
Energy
5.40%
$245
Food
5.04%
$231
Apparel
3.58%
$182
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1975: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1975 to 1992
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.90% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1975–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$261
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1975
$100 from 1975 had already become $185 by
1983, on its way to $261 in 1992; 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 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1975 had the buying
power of $261; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1975 to 1992: $100 is worth $261 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1975 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1992/