$100 in 1976 is worth $208 in 1988,
because prices increased 107.9% over that period, an average of
6.29% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$208
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
107.9%
Average inflation rate
6.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$208
Price difference ($100 base)
$108
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1976 → 1988
$208
$100 in 1988 → 1976
$48.10
What happened to prices between 1976 and 1988
Between 1976 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 107.9%, which works out to an average of
6.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1988: the 1976 dollar
lost 51.9% of its purchasing power over
these 12 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 1988 at the same ratio, 2.08: $1,000 becomes
$2,079, and $10,000 becomes $20,791.
Amount in 1976
Value in 1988
$1.00
$2.08
$5.00
$10.40
$10.00
$20.79
$20.00
$41.58
$50.00
$104
$100
$208
$500
$1,040
$1,000
$2,079
$5,000
$10,395
$10,000
$20,791
$100,000
$207,909
$1,000,000
$2,079,086
Inflation by spending category, 1976–1988
Between 1976 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 166.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 53.5%, against 107.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.29%
$208
Medical care
8.51%
$267
Housing
6.80%
$220
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.59%
$215
Energy
5.86%
$198
Transportation
5.83%
$197
Food
5.58%
$192
Apparel
3.63%
$153
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 1988
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.62% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–1988 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$208
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $170 by
1982, on its way to $208 in 1988; 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 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $208; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 1988: $100 is worth $208 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1988/