$100 in 1976 is worth $189 in 1985,
because prices increased 89.1% over that period, an average of
7.34% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$189
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
89.1%
Average inflation rate
7.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$189
Price difference ($100 base)
$89.10
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1976 → 1985
$189
$100 in 1985 → 1976
$52.88
What happened to prices between 1976 and 1985
Between 1976 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 89.1%, which works out to an average of
7.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.53 buys in 1985: the 1976 dollar
lost 47.1% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 1985 at the same ratio, 1.89: $1,000 becomes
$1,891, and $10,000 becomes $18,910.
Amount in 1976
Value in 1985
$1.00
$1.89
$5.00
$9.46
$10.00
$18.91
$20.00
$37.82
$50.00
$94.55
$100
$189
$500
$946
$1,000
$1,891
$5,000
$9,455
$10,000
$18,910
$100,000
$189,104
$1,000,000
$1,891,037
Inflation by spending category, 1976–1985
Between 1976 and 1985, energy rose the most, up 125.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 39.6%, against 89.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.34%
$189
Energy
9.44%
$225
Medical care
9.06%
$218
Housing
8.02%
$200
Transportation
7.59%
$193
Core (all items less food & energy)
7.40%
$190
Food
6.17%
$171
Apparel
3.78%
$140
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 1985
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (5.48% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–1985 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$189
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $145 by
1980, on its way to $189 in 1985; 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 3.2% in 1983.
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $189; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 1985: $100 is worth $189 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1985/