$100 in 1976 is worth $364 in 2007,
because prices increased 264.4% over that period, an average of
4.26% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$364
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
264.4%
Average inflation rate
4.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$364
Price difference ($100 base)
$264
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1976 → 2007
$364
$100 in 2007 → 1976
$27.44
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2007
Between 1976 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 264.4%, which works out to an average of
4.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.27 buys in 2007: the 1976 dollar
lost 72.6% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 2007 at the same ratio, 3.64: $1,000 becomes
$3,644, and $10,000 becomes $36,440.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2007
$1.00
$3.64
$5.00
$18.22
$10.00
$36.44
$20.00
$72.88
$50.00
$182
$100
$364
$500
$1,822
$1,000
$3,644
$5,000
$18,220
$10,000
$36,440
$100,000
$364,397
$1,000,000
$3,643,972
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2007
Between 1976 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 575.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 58.2%, against 264.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.26%
$364
Medical care
6.35%
$675
Energy
5.05%
$461
Housing
4.48%
$390
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.28%
$367
Transportation
3.98%
$335
Food
3.92%
$329
Apparel
1.49%
$158
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$364
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $247 by
1992, on its way to $364 in 2007; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $364; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2007: $100 is worth $364 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2007/