$100 in 1976 is worth $145 in 1980,
because prices increased 44.8% over that period, an average of
9.70% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$145
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
44.8%
Average inflation rate
9.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$145
Price difference ($100 base)
$44.82
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1976 → 1980
$145
$100 in 1980 → 1976
$69.05
What happened to prices between 1976 and 1980
Between 1976 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 44.8%, which works out to an average of
9.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.69 buys in 1980: the 1976 dollar
lost 30.9% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
Every 1976 amount converts to 1980 at the same ratio, 1.45: $1,000 becomes
$1,448, and $10,000 becomes $14,482.
Amount in 1976
Value in 1980
$1.00
$1.45
$5.00
$7.24
$10.00
$14.48
$20.00
$28.96
$50.00
$72.41
$100
$145
$500
$724
$1,000
$1,448
$5,000
$7,241
$10,000
$14,482
$100,000
$144,815
$1,000,000
$1,448,155
Inflation by spending category, 1976–1980
Between 1976 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 90.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 20.9%, against 44.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
9.70%
$145
Energy
17.51%
$191
Transportation
10.82%
$151
Housing
10.81%
$151
Medical care
9.55%
$144
Food
8.95%
$141
Core (all items less food & energy)
8.92%
$141
Apparel
4.85%
$121
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $115 by
1978, on its way to $145 in 1980; 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 6.5% in 1977.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $145; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 1980: $100 is worth $145 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1980/