$100 in 1976 is worth $416 in 2014,
because prices increased 316.1% over that period, an average of
3.82% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$416
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
316.1%
Average inflation rate
3.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$416
Price difference ($100 base)
$316
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1976 → 2014
$416
$100 in 2014 → 1976
$24.04
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2014
Between 1976 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 316.1%, which works out to an average of
3.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2014: the 1976 dollar
lost 76.0% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 2014 at the same ratio, 4.16: $1,000 becomes
$4,161, and $10,000 becomes $41,606.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2014
$1.00
$4.16
$5.00
$20.80
$10.00
$41.61
$20.00
$83.21
$50.00
$208
$100
$416
$500
$2,080
$1,000
$4,161
$5,000
$20,803
$10,000
$41,606
$100,000
$416,056
$1,000,000
$4,160,562
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2014
Between 1976 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 737.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 69.6%, against 316.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.82%
$416
Medical care
5.75%
$837
Energy
4.54%
$540
Housing
3.94%
$433
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.81%
$414
Food
3.67%
$394
Transportation
3.66%
$392
Apparel
1.40%
$170
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$416
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $260 by
1994, on its way to $416 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $416; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2014: $100 is worth $416 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2014/