$100 in 1975 is worth $283 in 1995,
because prices increased 183.3% over that period, an average of
5.34% a year.
$100 in 1975 has
the same buying power as
$283
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
183.3%
Average inflation rate
5.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$283
Price difference ($100 base)
$183
CPI in 1975
53.8
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1975 → 1995
$283
$100 in 1995 → 1975
$35.30
What happened to prices between 1975 and 1995
Between 1975 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 53.8 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 183.3%, which works out to an average of
5.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1975 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1995: the 1975 dollar
lost 64.7% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 1995 at the same ratio, 2.83: $1,000 becomes
$2,833, and $10,000 becomes $28,327.
Amount in 1975
Value in 1995
$1.00
$2.83
$5.00
$14.16
$10.00
$28.33
$20.00
$56.65
$50.00
$142
$100
$283
$500
$1,416
$1,000
$2,833
$5,000
$14,164
$10,000
$28,327
$100,000
$283,271
$1,000,000
$2,832,714
Inflation by spending category, 1975–1995
Between 1975 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 364.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 82.1%, against 183.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1975
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1975 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.34%
$283
Medical care
7.98%
$464
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.63%
$299
Housing
5.52%
$293
Transportation
5.24%
$278
Energy
4.69%
$250
Food
4.65%
$248
Apparel
3.04%
$182
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1975: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1975 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.90% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1975–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$283
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1975
$100 from 1975 had already become $200 by
1985, on its way to $283 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1975 had the buying
power of $283; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1975 to 1995: $100 is worth $283 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1975 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1995/