$100 in 1976 is worth $160 in 1981,
because prices increased 59.8% over that period, an average of
9.82% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$160
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
59.8%
Average inflation rate
9.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$160
Price difference ($100 base)
$59.75
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1976 → 1981
$160
$100 in 1981 → 1976
$62.60
What happened to prices between 1976 and 1981
Between 1976 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 59.8%, which works out to an average of
9.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.63 buys in 1981: the 1976 dollar
lost 37.4% of its purchasing power over
these 5 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 1981 at the same ratio, 1.60: $1,000 becomes
$1,598, and $10,000 becomes $15,975.
Amount in 1976
Value in 1981
$1.00
$1.60
$5.00
$7.99
$10.00
$15.98
$20.00
$31.95
$50.00
$79.88
$100
$160
$500
$799
$1,000
$1,598
$5,000
$7,988
$10,000
$15,975
$100,000
$159,754
$1,000,000
$1,597,540
Inflation by spending category, 1976–1981
Between 1976 and 1981, energy rose the most, up 116.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 26.7%, against 59.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
9.82%
$160
Energy
16.72%
$217
Transportation
11.08%
$169
Housing
10.94%
$168
Medical care
9.78%
$159
Core (all items less food & energy)
9.22%
$155
Food
8.73%
$152
Apparel
4.85%
$127
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1970s (9.70% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–1981 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$160
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $115 by
1978, on its way to $160 in 1981; 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 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $160; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 1981: $100 is worth $160 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1981/