$100 in 1976 is worth $343 in 2005,
because prices increased 243.2% over that period, an average of
4.34% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$343
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
243.2%
Average inflation rate
4.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$343
Price difference ($100 base)
$243
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1976 → 2005
$343
$100 in 2005 → 1976
$29.13
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2005
Between 1976 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 243.2%, which works out to an average of
4.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.29 buys in 2005: the 1976 dollar
lost 70.9% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2005 at the same ratio, 3.43: $1,000 becomes
$3,432, and $10,000 becomes $34,323.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2005
$1.00
$3.43
$5.00
$17.16
$10.00
$34.32
$20.00
$68.65
$50.00
$172
$100
$343
$500
$1,716
$1,000
$3,432
$5,000
$17,162
$10,000
$34,323
$100,000
$343,234
$1,000,000
$3,432,337
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2005
Between 1976 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 521.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 58.9%, against 243.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.34%
$343
Medical care
6.50%
$622
Energy
4.83%
$393
Housing
4.55%
$364
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.41%
$350
Transportation
4.04%
$316
Food
3.97%
$310
Apparel
1.61%
$159
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.55% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2005 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$230
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$303
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$343
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $230 by
1990, on its way to $343 in 2005; 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 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $343; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2005: $100 is worth $343 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2005/