$100 in 1976 is worth $383 in 2010,
because prices increased 283.2% over that period, an average of
4.03% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$383
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
283.2%
Average inflation rate
4.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$383
Price difference ($100 base)
$283
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1976 → 2010
$383
$100 in 2010 → 1976
$26.09
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2010
Between 1976 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 283.2%, which works out to an average of
4.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.26 buys in 2010: the 1976 dollar
lost 73.9% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2010 at the same ratio, 3.83: $1,000 becomes
$3,832, and $10,000 becomes $38,323.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2010
$1.00
$3.83
$5.00
$19.16
$10.00
$38.32
$20.00
$76.65
$50.00
$192
$100
$383
$500
$1,916
$1,000
$3,832
$5,000
$19,161
$10,000
$38,323
$100,000
$383,227
$1,000,000
$3,832,267
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2010
Between 1976 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 647.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 58.9%, against 283.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.03%
$383
Medical care
6.09%
$747
Energy
4.65%
$469
Housing
4.18%
$402
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.05%
$386
Food
3.81%
$357
Transportation
3.76%
$351
Apparel
1.37%
$159
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$383
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $247 by
1992, on its way to $383 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $383; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2010: $100 is worth $383 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2010/