$100 in 1976 is worth $417 in 2015,
because prices increased 316.6% over that period, an average of
3.73% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$417
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
316.6%
Average inflation rate
3.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$417
Price difference ($100 base)
$317
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1976 → 2015
$417
$100 in 2015 → 1976
$24.01
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2015
Between 1976 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 316.6%, which works out to an average of
3.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2015: the 1976 dollar
lost 76.0% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 2015 at the same ratio, 4.17: $1,000 becomes
$4,166, and $10,000 becomes $41,655.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2015
$1.00
$4.17
$5.00
$20.83
$10.00
$41.66
$20.00
$83.31
$50.00
$208
$100
$417
$500
$2,083
$1,000
$4,166
$5,000
$20,828
$10,000
$41,655
$100,000
$416,550
$1,000,000
$4,165,501
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2015
Between 1976 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 759.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 67.4%, against 316.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.73%
$417
Medical care
5.67%
$859
Energy
3.93%
$450
Housing
3.89%
$442
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.76%
$422
Food
3.63%
$401
Transportation
3.35%
$361
Apparel
1.33%
$167
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$417
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $276 by
1996, on its way to $417 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $417; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2015: $100 is worth $417 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2015/