$100 in 1975 is worth $329 in 2001,
because prices increased 229.2% over that period, an average of
4.69% a year.
$100 in 1975 has
the same buying power as
$329
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
229.2%
Average inflation rate
4.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$329
Price difference ($100 base)
$229
CPI in 1975
53.8
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1975 → 2001
$329
$100 in 2001 → 1975
$30.38
What happened to prices between 1975 and 2001
Between 1975 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 53.8 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 229.2%, which works out to an average of
4.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1975 bought what
$0.30 buys in 2001: the 1975 dollar
lost 69.6% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2001 at the same ratio, 3.29: $1,000 becomes
$3,292, and $10,000 becomes $32,918.
Amount in 1975
Value in 2001
$1.00
$3.29
$5.00
$16.46
$10.00
$32.92
$20.00
$65.84
$50.00
$165
$100
$329
$500
$1,646
$1,000
$3,292
$5,000
$16,459
$10,000
$32,918
$100,000
$329,182
$1,000,000
$3,291,822
Inflation by spending category, 1975–2001
Between 1975 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 474.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 75.6%, against 229.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1975
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1975 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.69%
$329
Medical care
6.95%
$574
Housing
4.91%
$348
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.88%
$345
Transportation
4.42%
$308
Energy
4.41%
$307
Food
4.17%
$289
Apparel
2.19%
$176
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1975: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1975 to 2001
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.90% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1975–2001 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$320
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$329
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1975
$100 from 1975 had already become $220 by
1988, on its way to $329 in 2001; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1975 had the buying
power of $329; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1975 to 2001: $100 is worth $329 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1975 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-2001/