$100 in 1976 is worth $422 in 2016,
because prices increased 321.8% over that period, an average of
3.66% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$422
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
321.8%
Average inflation rate
3.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$422
Price difference ($100 base)
$322
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1976 → 2016
$422
$100 in 2016 → 1976
$23.71
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2016
Between 1976 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 321.8%, which works out to an average of
3.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2016: the 1976 dollar
lost 76.3% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 2016 at the same ratio, 4.22: $1,000 becomes
$4,218, and $10,000 becomes $42,180.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2016
$1.00
$4.22
$5.00
$21.09
$10.00
$42.18
$20.00
$84.36
$50.00
$211
$100
$422
$500
$2,109
$1,000
$4,218
$5,000
$21,090
$10,000
$42,180
$100,000
$421,805
$1,000,000
$4,218,049
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2016
Between 1976 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 791.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 67.6%, against 321.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.66%
$422
Medical care
5.62%
$892
Housing
3.85%
$453
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.72%
$431
Energy
3.65%
$420
Food
3.54%
$402
Transportation
3.21%
$354
Apparel
1.30%
$168
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$422
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $276 by
1996, on its way to $422 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $422; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2016: $100 is worth $422 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2016/